§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve the recruitment and retention of prison staff in areas of high property prices. [110959]
§ Mr. BoatengThe Prison Service recognise that there are concerns about the recruitment and retention of staff predominantly, but not exclusively, in the South-East. This area has been particularly affected by recent trends in house prices.
The Service is currently working with unions on a number of initiatives which aim to address pay and recruitment and retention issues. These initiatives 822W included a review of local pay issues. This builds further on changes to pay and recruitment introduced in 1999 which included:
the introduction of additional flexibility to offer higher starting pay for new entrants including prison officer and related grades;raising significantly the minimum rates of many administrative and industrial grades in the 1999 pay round;launching a national recruitment campaign specifically targeted to filling posts in London and the South-East, which included a central clearing house to speed up processing of applications;offering relocation expenses of up to £5,000 to new entrant prison officers who have to move home in order to take up an appointment in high priced housing areas, principally in London and the South-East;the introduction nationwide of an alternative entry test for candidates who do not meet the minimum educational requirements for entry as a prison officer; andthe introduction of revised upper and lower age limits for prison officer recruitment.