HL Deb 24 July 1996 vol 574 cc128-9WA
Baroness Rawlings

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What progress has been made in implementing the recommendations of the Learmont Report.

Baroness Blatch

Details of steps taken by the Prison Service to improve its performance are contained in the interim progress report on theReview of Prison Service Security in England and Wales and the escape from Parkhurst Prison on Tuesday 3rd January 1995—The Learmont Inquiry given in a table, copies of which have been placed in the Library. The progress report excludes those recommendations identical or very similar to those of the Woodcock Report which my right honourable friend accepted on 19th December 1994. The table also gives details of the recommendations already implemented. Six reviews are still in progress in respect of recommendations: 1, 88, 97, 98, 101, 107. The remaining recommendations are still under consideration. We shall report to the House on outstanding issues in due course.

The Prison Service has initiated a wide-ranging programme of action to build on the improvement in its performance in security (including measures taken in response to the recommendations of the Woodcock and Learmont Reports).

The Prison Service has pressed ahead with upgrading the high security dispersal estate to standards recommended in the Woodcock Report, a programme which Sir John Learmont included in his recommendations. In his review of Prison Service progress towards implementing the Woodcock Report, Sir John Learmont reported in December 1995 that, in a period of less than a year, the Prison Service has made infinitely more headway in implementing the Woodcock recommendations than it seems reasonable to expect".

The Prison Service has achieved a sharp reduction in the number of escapes. Escapes in 1995–96 were 59 per cent. down on those in 1994–95 and 79 per cent. down compared to 1992–93.

The security manual has been redrafted emphasising the distinction between what is mandatory and what is discretionary.

The Prison Service has made excellent progress to ensure that security measures are consistently observed. The Prison Service has strengthened independent security audit, which it had in hand before the Whitemoor Escape, in recognition of the major contribution it has to make to improving security standards. The Prison Service has pressed ahead with a number of organisational changes designed to ensure that operational management of prisons can be carried out more effectively.

In addition to those reviews still in progress and referred to above, the Prison Service has completed 10 reviews, the conclusions of which are under consideration.