§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will undertake to restore the cuts made in prison officers' initial and in-service training in 1980.
§ Mr. MayhewNo cuts were made in prison officers' initial training in 1980. As a result of industrial action by prison officers it was necessary to cancel a number of in-service courses at the prison service college in the last quarter of the year, as well as courses organised at regional and local levels. In-service training for prison officers is now functioning normally; every endeavour is being made by the prison department to deal with the backlog created by this disruption.
§ Mr. Kilroy-Silkasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the approximate proportion of prison officers' training at the officer training schools devoted to security and control techniques, psychological and sociological aspects of imprisonment, and minimum use of force tactical intervention techniques for the use of force in riot control, respectively.
§ Mr. MayhewThe prison officers' initial training at the officer training schools consists of a total of 297 sessions of 45 minutes each spread over eight weeks. Sixty-five sessions—22 per cent.—relate to security and control techniques, 21 sessions—7 per cent.—to psychological and sociological aspects of imprisonment and six sessions—2 per cent.—to minimum use of force tactical intervention—MUFTI—techniques for demonstration control.
Officers also undergo development training at the training schools after 12 months service. On the development course 17 per cent. of the sessions are on security and control, and 14 per cent. are on psychological and sociological aspects of imprisonment. There is no MUFTI content.