§ Mr. DrewTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) if he will make a statement on the recent report on Ashfield Young Offenders' Institution; [97036]
(2) what sanctions he has imposed on Recruit as a result of the Ashfield Report; and what plans he has to encourage them to reform their recruitment policies; [97039]
(3) what discussions he has had with Recruit regarding (a) their record at Ashfield and (b) other prison contracts they are responsible for. [97037]
§ Hilary BennThe operating contractor of Ashfield young offender institution is Premier Prison Services which also operates Doncaster prison and young offender institution, Dovegate and Lowdham Grange prisons. I have not had discussions with Premier about any of these prisons, but I visited Ashfield on 29 August 2002 because of the concern that had been expressed about its performance. I am also regularly informed by the Prison Service about significant developments there and elsewhere in the Service.
No sanctions have been imposed on Premier directly as a result of the report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons. However the Prison Service has made deductions from the fee payable to Premier totalling £350,305 during the period November 2001 to October 2002 for failures to deliver acceptable levels of performance.
Premier has recently introduced a new employment package for existing staff and new recruits in response to Prison Service concerns. The initial signs are encouraging in that the rate of staff resignations is falling.
The Director General of the Prison Service made the following statement on 3 February in response to the report of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons on Ashfield young offender institution also published on 3 February:
Ashfield has been struggling for some considerable time to provide an environment for young people which is safe and constructive. Premier's failures were so significant that in May 2002, some time before the Inspectorate's visit, I considered closing it and would have done so were it not for the population pressures we were facing. Instead, I took the unprecedented step of imposing a public sector governor and he made significant improvements. As Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons (HMCIP) report acknowledges, a new, more constructive and safer regime, some weeks in the design stage, was successfully launched shortly after the HMCIP visit.316WBut these early improvements were not built upon as I had hoped. Since then I have personally intervened to help Premier recruit, in Vicky O'Dea, one of the most talented, committed and inspirational governors in the Prison Service. I have immense confidence in her and at last I am beginning to see signs of fundamental change for the better.Premier runs good prisons at Doncaster and Lowdham Grange and is fast improving Dovegate prison. However, the company is under no illusion that if the recent improvements at Ashfield are not built upon I will have to consider terminating the contract by inviting Premier's bankers to appoint another private sector company to run the prison. Failing that, I will have to consider bringing Ashfield into the public sector. For the time being, we will only be using half the places at Ashfield and paying Premier only part of its monthly fee.The introduction of the private sector into the running of prisons has brought immense benefits. My best prison is probably a private sector prison. But Ashfield, by some measure, is the worst. Sustained improvement is now vital if I am to be persuaded to leave the management of Ashfield in Premier's hands.