Prisons Ombudsman (Hansard, 25 January 1994)

§ Mr. Lang

Proposals to revise the procedures under which prisoners in Scotland are able to make requests and complaints and to air grievances in relation to the Scottish Prison Service were contained in the report of a Scottish Prison Service working group entitled "Right and Just", which was published for comment in September 1992. The consultation exercise indicated a general consensus in favour of introducing an independent element to the system, and we have taken the view that this can best be achieved by the appointment of an external complaints adjudicator—an independent person on a fixed term contract, with advisory functions. This will fulfil the commitment in the justice charter for Scotland to introduce an independent element in the new procedures. Officials in the Scottish Office have been asked to start the process of advertising for such a person with a view to an appointment later this year.

In advance of that, however, proposals for revised internal grievance procedures have been fully worked up for implementation in establishments next month. The main features are that requests or complaints will be resolved as close as possible to the source of the matter at issue; those who take decisions will be accountable for them; prisoners will receive reasoned responses within a set time scale; and accurate and sufficiently detailed records will be maintained. Gallery officers and hall managers will have a key role to play in the day-to-day handling of requests and complaints, but issues which they cannot resolve will be referred to an internal complaints committee. Prisoners will be given the opportunity to appeal against the committee's decisions to the governor-in-charge. If they remain dissatisfied, they will have the right of appeal to the external complaints adjudicator. Under transitional arrangements there will be a right of appeal to Scottish Prison Service headquarters.

The external complaints adjudicator will take a case on board only when all previous stages in the procedure have been exhausted. He or she will review both the merits of decisions and the way in which requests and complaints have been handled in the internal system. Where the complaints adjudicator disagrees with a decision, he or she will have the power to recommend the questioning of any finding of guilt or remission of any punishment. The complaints adjudicator will make a report to the chief executive of the Scottish Prison Service on each case with a reasoned recommendation.

I believe that this new appointment, taken with the overhauled internal procedures, will represent a significant advance in the way in which prisoners' requests and complaints are handled.