§ Mrs. EwingTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what has been the total expenditure by the Scottish Office in the training and recruitment of professional staff for the Scottish prison service in each of the past three financial years; what innovations have been implemented in training and recruitment; and if he will make a statement on future plans and expenditure.
§ Lord James Douglas-Hamilton[holding answer 7 December 1992]: Major changes have been made in training policy with substantially increased investment in prison staff training and innovative training programmes. Future expenditure plans for the Scottish prison service will be announced next February in the Scottish Office departmental report. No diminution is planned in the Scottish prison service's investment in training.
Total expenditure on training and recruitment of prison staff in each of the last three financial years:
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1990–91 1991–92 £000 1992–93 (budget Training costs (trainer staff cosls and GAE) 2,747 2,297 3,609 Staff time devoted to training person weeks (approx) 2,750 3,900 14,250 Recruitment (staff and GAE) 451 72 158 (Numbers recruited) (149) (374) 2(362) 1 (estimated) 2 (projected) Total prison staff numbers have increased from 3,966 on 1 April 1990 to 4,405 (projected) on 1 April 1993 (excluding HQ staff).