§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what is the total additional days' leave granted to staff at Her Majesty's prison, Wakefield, arising from the temporary transfer of staff to Her Majesty's prison, Manchester;
(2) if he will allocate additional staff at Her Majesty's prison, Wakefield to enable prison officers who have undertaken duties at Her Majesty's prison, Manchester, to take the special trauma leave that they have been granted;
(3) what advice has been given by his Department to the governor of Her Majesty's prison, Wakefield, as to how staffing levels in the prison can be maintained at safe levels while (a) prison officers who have been temporarily deployed at Her Majesty's prison, Manchester, take leave that they have subsequently been granted and (b) other 674W officers who covered duties for those absent from Her Majesty's prison, Wakefield, take time off that is due to them.
§ Mr. Mellor[holding answer 27 April 1990]The governor of Her Majesty's prison, Wakefield will assess locally the impact of both additional leave granted to staff attending the disturbance at Her Majesty's prison, Manchester (the amount of which is still being calculated) and additional hours accumulated at Wakefield by covering for colleagues on duty at Manchester. He will then, using this assessment and information from the staff planning and reporting system (SPAR), plan officers' leave and time off in lieu (TOIL). If he identifies any problems he will seek assistance from regional management. This process needs to be completed before regional management can assess whether additional staff might need to be sent to Wakefield on a temporary basis.
On 11 April my right hon. and learned Friend announced that, in recognition of the stress which the prison service has suffered, he would be bringing forward the recruitment of 200 officers originally planned for later this year. When these officers are available they will be posted following an assessment by management of which establishments are under particular pressure.