§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether all staff will have the right to transfer to the new employer if the contract for Manchester prison is awarded to an outside tenderer; and what will be the position of any employees who decline to be transferred.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 14 June 1993.
MARKET TESTING OF HMP MANCHESTER
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the position of staff working at Manchester Prison.We have given an undertaking that, in the event of a private operator winning the contract, mobile staff at Manchester will have the option of re-deployment elsewhere in the Prison Service. In the case of non-mobile staff we have undertaken to explore the possibilities of re-deployment in the Prison Service or elsewhere in Government service but cannot guarantee that this will prove possible. Mobile staff who have not opted for re-deployment will transfer automatically to the new employer, as will non-mobile staff who have requested re-deployment but for whom such opportunities cannot be found.