§ Mr. Grocottasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the total number of hours of overtime worked by prison officers in the last full week for which figures are available; and how many additional prison officers would need to be recruited to eliminate overtime working.
§ Dr. SummerskillI regret that information on the number of overtime hours worked by particular weeks is not available centrally. In the financial year 1977–78 prison officers in England and Wales worked a total of about 9.27 million overtime hours. It would not be possible in certain operational matters, such as escort duties, entirely to eliminate overtime working and, allowing for this, it is estimated that additional manpower of the order of 3,500 officers would be required.