§ Mr. CashTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when he expects to receive the action plan on Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons' report on the 1986 prison disturbances; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. HurdI have now received and endorsed the action plan prepared by the director general of the prison service on the report by the previous Chief Inspector of Prisons, Sir James Hennessy, on the 1986 prison disturbances. As I reported to the House when announcing publication of the report on 16 July, action had been set in hand on a720W number of fronts, including contingency planning, before the chief inspector's report was received. Work has continued since.
Following the chief inspector's report, all establishments were required to review their contingency arrangements in the light of his findings and to submit revised plans to prison department headquarters by the end of the year. New guidance is to be issued shortly on the industrial relations and personnel management aspects of planning responses to industrial action.
As regards the chief inspector's conclusions on the wider issues, work is being taken forward in the context of the major changes in management structure and working practices—known as fresh start—now being introduced in the prison service.