§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department on how many occasions since 1 April 413W 1996 operational emergencies have been declared in prisons under bulletin 8, paragraph 7; if he will list the prisons concerned; and what were the reasons. [20462]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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 A. J. Pearson to Mr. David Hinchliffe, dated 17 March 1997:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to answer your recent Question about operational emergencies declared in prisons.Fresh Start Bulletin 8 paragraph 17 refers to an operational emergency as being one reason among others for asking staff to work longer than the sum of their conditioned hours.No central record is kept of the occasions where this happens nor is there a requirement for local records to be kept of additional staff attendance required by such emergencies.This information therefore, could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.