§ Lord Brougham and Vauxasked Her Majesty's Government:
When they intend to publish the report of .General Sir John Learmont's review of the implementation of the recommendations contained in Sir John Woodcock's report on the escape from Whitemoor prison on Friday, 9 September 1994.
§ Baroness BlatchMy right honourable friend has today placed a copy of General Sir John Learmont's report in the Library.
We are extremely grateful to Sir John, and to Sir John Woodcock with whom the review was undertaken, for their work. The report concludes that in both security and control terms, a "sea change for the better had taken place at Whitemoor" (paragraph 2.2), and that "in a period of less than a year the Prison Service has made infinitely more headway in implementing the Woodcock recommendations than it seemed reasonable to expect, and in line with the published timetable. It has made this progress with an optimism and enthusiasm that demonstrates the calibre of the staff at all levels of the service. All concerned deserve praise for what has been achieved in getting the fundamentals of custody, care and control into better balance" (paragraph 4.6).
General Sir John Learmont has already recommended the appointment of a Director of Dispersal Prisons at Prisons Board level, and in this latest report he says that this issue needs addressing without delay. The acting director general has today appointed Mr. Philip Wheatley, at present Area Manager (London North), to be Director of Dispersal Prisons with responsibility for the management of the five dispersal prisons—Frankland, Full Sutton, Long Lartin, Wakefield and Whitemoor—and of HMP Belmarsh, which also holds a significant number of Category A prisoners.