§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will increase the salaries of prison staff in discipline and administration grades. [2849]
§ Beverley HughesPrison officers and related support grades received a two per cent. increase in pay from 1 January 2001. Also, locality payments for those working in and around London were increased by between £517 and £873 a y ear. This year's pay changes for administrative grades are still subject to the outcome of negotiations. The pay of most of these Prison Service staff will he handled differently from next year.
On 9 February 2001, Official Report, column 747W, my right hon. Friend the then Secretary of State for the Home Office announced plans to set up a Prison Service Pay Review Body to make independent recommendations to the Government on the pay of prison officers and related support grades employed in public sector prisons in England and Wales, and the Northern Ireland Prison Service. This came into effect on 17 April 2001. It is due to make its first recommendations with effect from 1 January 2002. The pay of prison administrative staff, who are outside the Review Body remit, will remain subject to direct annual negotiation between the Prison Service and the Prison Service Trade Union Side.