HC Deb 28 March 1994 vol 240 cc568-9W
Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what means are in place to monitor services at The Wolds prison which Group 4 contract out to third parties;

(2) what steps have been taken to enable a comparative cost analysis between The Wolds and the public sector following the criticisms made by the Prison Chief Inspector last year;

(3) if he will publish the reports made by the Crown Monitor at The Wolds;

(4) how much Group 4 will be paid to run The Wolds prison; and how any originally agreed sum has been subsequently varied;

(5) how many disturbances have occurred at The Wolds prison since it opened;

(6) how many custody officers are currently working at The Wolds prison; and what information he has as to how many custody officers have resigned or been sacked by Group 4 since The Wolds opened.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Responsibility for these matters 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 Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 28 March 1994:

HM Prison Wolds

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Questions about Wolds prison.

On 28 February 1994 155 people certificated as prisoner custody officers (PCOs) were employed at Wolds prison. In 1992 four PCOs resigned and in 1993 ten did so. Two have been dismissed, both in 1993. In 1994 12 PCOs have resigned. It is believed that some of these have accepted offers of PCO posts elsewhere.

The Controller monitors all the services delivered under the contract, including those which, with Prison Service permission, are subcontracted. There are no plans to publish the Controller's reports. These are internal management reports and it would not be appropriate to release them. Reports by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons and the Board of Visitors have been published.

The Prison Service has made public the cost of operating Wolds on several occasions, before and after publication of the Chief Inspector's report, including responses to a number of Parliamentary Questions and at the time of the publication of the Chief Inspector's report on Wolds in August 1993, the announcement of the plans for private sector involvement in the Prison Service in September 1993, and the announcement of award of the contract for Doncaster prison in January this year. Comparative cost analysis has also been undertaken and published at the time of the latter announcements. I should point out that the ability to draw meaningful comparisons is limited because the Wolds is the only adult remand prison. In addition, the Prison Service publishes comparative information about the performance of all prisons, directly and privately managed, on a regular basis in its Annual Report. Information on Wolds was included in the Prison Service Annual Report and Accounts for 1992–93 which was published in November 1993 (Cm 2385). The report shows that the net operating costs for Wolds for that financial year were £5.5 million and the cost per prisoner place per week was £333. The net operating cost includes all costs associated with the operation of Wolds, including payments made to Group 4. Figures for the 1993–94 financial year will be included in the next annual report.

Group 4 is currently paid at the rate of £4.8 million a year for the management of Wolds. Amounts paid to Group 4 are included in the total costs of operating Wolds referred to above. The contract with Group 4 allows for variations to be made to the services required under the contract and for annual reviews of the contract price in line with the movements of the appropriate prices and earning indices published by the Department of Trade and the Department of Employment. In the life of the contract the most significant changes have been variations to reflect the transfer of the court escort function from Wolds prison to the new court escort and custody service in Humberside and the East Midlands in April 1992; and the movements in the relevant indices.

Finally, you also requested information on disturbances at the prison. Details of incidents between the opening of the prison and 29 June 1993 have already been provided to Parliament (Official Report: 26 July 1993, col. WA 75–79). Since that time there have been three instances of concerted indiscipline, making a total of 28 incidents in all.