§ Baroness Trumpingtonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What decisions have been taken on the main recommendations of the report of the Working Party on Clerks to Boards of Visitors of Prison Department Establishments.
§ Lord BelsteadThe working party's central recommendation was that, subject to certain transitional arrangements, the servicing of boards of visitors should become an integral part of the official work of their establishments instead of being undertaken on a fee payment basis by volunteers, most of whom are already members of the staff of those establishments.
My right honourable friend shares the working party's view that it should be possible to provide a better and more consistent service for the valuable work done by boards of visitors if such servicing became part of official duties and that this will not detract from the independence of boards. Accordingly, and following consultation with boards and with staff, my right honourable friend has decided that the "official duty" system recommended by the working party should be adopted at each establishment as and when appointment of the present clerk comes to an end. He also accepts the working party's recommendation that where exceptionally a board of visitors wishes to recruit and appoint a clerk from outside the Prison Service it should retain the right to do so. My right honourable friend is sympathetic to the working party's recommendations for an expansion of training for clerks to boards, and will take decisions on those recommendations in the context of the 1041WA general review of Prison Department training recommended by the May Committee which will shortly commence. I have placed a copy of the working party's report in the Library.