Prison Service (Hansard, 18 July 1991)

§ Mr. Lang

In February 1991, I authorised the director of the Scottish prison service to enter into consultations with staff and trade unions on proposals for changes to the organisation of the Scottish prison service, contained in the report "Organising for Excellence", prepared by a prison service review team. Comments were invited by the end of April.

I have now had an opportunity to consider the responses to the consultation period. In the light of the comments received, I have now authorised the director of the Scottish prison service to implement the broad structure recommended by the review team. In particular, the reorganisation will involve: The creation of a new prisons board for Scotland, including two non-executive members, to advise on the development of strategies and plans for the service; The reorganisation of the headquarters of the Scottish prison service under four new directorates—prisons, strategy and planning, human resources, and finance and information systems—to provide a more effective framework for the strategic management of the service; The creation of area directors, who would be responsible for the line management of a group of establishments on a regional basis; and over time, the delegation of considerably greater responsibility, authority and accountability to the Governors of establishments.

As a consequence of these changes, I have decided that in future the Scottish prison service shall operate on next steps principles. Such a move is consistent with the measures which we have already taken to deliver greater public accountability and improve managerial control within the Scottish prison service. In addition, I have asked my officials to review the practicability and desirability of a move to full agency status, with a view to this work having been completed by the end of December 1991.

235W

The staff of the Scottish prison service are critical to its future success. A key objective of the proposed changes will be to deliver a more integrated service, offering staff at all levels greater job satisfaction and improved opportunities for career development. While the broad principles of the new structure have now been decided, much work remains to be done on the detail of how they will be implemented and we will be consulting fully with the trade unions and individual members of staff on the implementation of these changes.