Prison Service (Hansard, 26 July 2000)

§ Mr. Boateng

Agreement has been reached to set up a pay review body to make independent recommendations to the Government on the pay of prison governors, prison officers and related grades for the Prison Service in England and Wales. This review body would operate on the lines of the five existing review bodies which deal with 1.3 million public sector employees. Like the existing review bodies, it would have a secretariat from the independent Office of Manpower Economics.

This establishment of an independent pay determination mechanism would be under the provisions of Section 128 of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 as part of a comprehensive programme of improvement in prison service management.

It is also my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary's intention, when Parliamentary time allows, to replace Section 127 with a reserve statutory power and a voluntary industrial relations agreement. Section 127, as it stands, makes it unlawful for officers of a prison to take industrial action. The voluntary agreement which has been accepted by the Prison Governors' Association (PGA), the Prison Officers' Association (POA) and the National Executive Committee (NEC) will be put to a special POA delegates conference in August. This will mean that they have agreed not to induce, support or authorise industrial action. In recognition of this we will provide them with a new disputes procedure which will include independent arbitration. The voluntary agreement, which will be legally binding, will give my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary the power to seek injunctive relief.

My right hon. Friend the Home Secretary intends to use the provisions of the voluntary agreement instead of those in Section 127, while awaiting Parliamentary time to effect the changes in legislation. However, it is clear on all sides that Section 127 would be used in the event of a breakdown of the agreement.

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Together, I hope these measures will create a new climate for industrial relations in the Service. They clear the way for more constructive dialogue on a wide range of issues by modernising the way that this key group of public sector workers deal with their employer.

The remit of the pay review body would also have the scope to make an independent determination in relation to the pay of prison governors, prison officers, night patrol officers and prison auxiliaries in the Northern Ireland Prison Service based on submissions made to it by that Service.

The implementation of this agreement and the delivery of the intentions I have outlined are dependent on my being satisfied that the state of industrial relations within prisons is such as to enable the effective and efficient management of the Service.

Such a state cannot be said to have been attained in the light of the current withdrawal of good will by the POA, but I will keep the situation under constant review.