§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department at which English and Welsh prisons the Prison Officers' Association has begun working normally again; and if he will make a statement on the continuing dispute between his Department and the Prison Officers' Association.
§ Mr. WhitelawI met the full national executive committee of the Prison Officers' Association on 12 January. I confirmed why the Government rejects the prison officers retrospective claims for certain meal break payments and for arbitration on matters which are outside the scope of the Civil Service arbitration agreement. I once again invited the Prison Officers' Association to reach a final resolution of the dispute on the basis of a new duty system for the future which offers benefits both for the more efficient management of the prison service and for prison officers themselves.
I made an offer on these lines in December, which lapsed when a delegate conference of the association declined to accept it; I thought it right to renew that offer and to give prison officers more time in which to consider it, provided that they suspended their industrial action in the meantime.
631WFollowing my meeting, I was informed by the chairman of the Prison Officers' Association that his national executive committee has instructed its branches to suspend all industrial action from midnight on Saturday 17 January. I welcome this and await the response of the association's members to their national executive committee's instructions.
632WA return to normal working includes receiving prisoners from police cells and emergency accommodation; this will need to be phased over a period starting from the suspension of industrial action.