08 May 2008
Jack Straw has given a speech at the Prison Officers Association conference.
The Right Honourable Jack Straw MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice:
As you know, I had planned to be here to speak this morning but I was asked to give the eulogy at the funeral of Gwyneth Dunwoody, so I am sure that you will understand. Gwyneth was a woman renowned for nothing if not her straight talking. Gwyneth never backed away from telling it like it is, and it is in this spirit that I will speak today.
I wanted first to thank you and the thousands of members you represent, for the work you do day after day with great professionalism.
The fact that your members have been able to make this crucial effort against a backdrop of a record and rising prison population makes it all the more impressive.
There is no way in which [Justice Ministers] David [Hanson], Maria [Eagle], Philip Hunt and I can even pretend to know what life is like for you and your colleagues. But each of us has made it a top priority to visit prisons as often as we can to give ourselves a better understanding, and to engage with the Prison Officers Association nationally and locally. Since we took on our posts just over 10 months ago Ministry of Justice ministers have visited 56 HMP establishments (David has visited 33, Maria nine, Phil five and I have visited nine); and have spoken with Prison Officers Association branch officials at 51 of those. On top of that David, Maria and I between us have met your National Officers on seven occasions - including David's visit to Cronin House.
And that is why I am here today, with David Hanson and Maria Eagle because we want to find a way forward together.
Prisons are far better places that they were in 1997. Something that Anne Owers [Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons] herself acknowledged. They are more decent, more humane, more constructive and they are safer for staff and for prisoners. Investment in education, drug treatment and rehabilitation has risen significantly. Over the same period escapes have fallen dramatically. Just last year saw the lowest number of escapes since records began, not because it's an easy life, but because prisons have done so much to improve discipline and standards.
But I have not come here to ignore the elephants in the room.
There are differences between us. It is in the very nature of employer and employee relations that we will not always agree. But that does not mean we should not, or can not work together. I believe your Prison Officers Association leadership shares this view that we need to be able to work through the issues sensibly and responsibly. Constructive dialogue is crucial to this.
Pay
The first one is pay. I don't begrudge a penny of that money - and I am sure taxpayers don't either - because we all recognise the difficult job you do.
The pay environment is never easy. But one of the things which I am my successors did was to compress the scales so that after their probation, new officers can now get to the top of the scale in just six years. In 1997 it took more than twice as long to do that - 15 years. That has been a really important change which you sought and we agreed. Along with the police service, resignations before retirement are the lowest among public services at around 2.3%. And there's a competition with the private sector which you are definitely winning - public sector pay at the top of the scale is significantly better.
I know that you have concerns over the independence of the Pay Review Body. The pay review body is fiercely independent, and it regularly makes recommendations well above the Government suggestions. But I am doing what I can to restore your confidence in the system.
We have already improved the appointment process, and have separated the Prison Service completely from the process of making appointments to the Pay Review Body. In future I will lay aside my right to issue a remit letter to the Body save in exceptional circumstances. I will encourage discussions with your National Executive Committee and the Review Body over what other improvements can be made to the process, including supplementary evidence sessions.
We are also very near to final agreement of the new Payment Plus system of £17 per hour for extra work
Your association has long been on record in favour of collective bargaining in the context of workforce modernisation. With that as a platform, I'd like to see NOMS [National Offenders Management Service] and the Prison Officers Association submit joint evidence to the Pay Review Body. The ultimate goal will be a multi-year pay deal agreed through collective bargaining.
That would be a modern approach. And I am pleased that you and NOMS are already discussing proposals. I am sure those negotiations will be intense. But we are serious about them. And so, for the right agreement with all the Unions, there is serious money available.
I haven't said this before, and I stress again that it will only be there if we get the right deal, but if we do, I can tell you today, there is £50 million on offer for workforce modernisation for 2009/10.
That is £50 million to invest in your members and the Prison Service staff. £50million is a lot of money.
It took a great deal of effort to get it out of the Treasury and I don't want to have to give a penny of it back. I want to be able to sit down with you Colin, Brian, the National Executive Committee to work out how to spend it wisely for the benefit of you members and the prison service as a whole.
I believe that prison officers should benefit fully from that. We need the Prison Officers Association to engage with us on this and negotiate hard. I have no doubt you can do that.
Industrial relations
The second thing is the issue of the right to take industrial action.
I am perfectly prepared to acknowledge that there are some issues on which I have changed my mind. I make no apology for that. I believe that if you've been around the block a bit it is entirely legitimate to change your mind, provided you explain why. But this isn't one of them.
My view on the scope for industrial action by services critical not only for the safety and security of the public but for the stability of the state, has always been consistent. What the police, the armed forces, prison officers do is simply too important.
Moreover, in 2000 when then Prisons Minister Paul Boateng and I agreed to create an independent pay review body we were clear that a key component should be a self-denying ordinance which prevented industrial action. We spelt it out in terms. Failure to stick to the voluntary agreement would mean we would have resort to reactivating the a legal ban on striking which would have stayed on the statute book.
The position which the government has now had to take on this has received overwhelming support in Parliament from all three major parties. Earlier today legislation was passed to prevent the safety and security of the public, of staff, and of prisoners being put at risk through industrial action.
This is the position we are in. What is important now is that we move forward from here. I know that this is a bitter pill, but it is also worth me spelling out, that given the breadth and depth of support for this in both Houses I can conceive of no circumstance in which any government, of whatever complexion, would seek to change this.
Throughout this process we have been upfront with you. We have not been deaf to representations, and that's why, in the light of what the Joint Committee on Human Rights recommended, we modified the terms of the statutory ban.
I fully accept that you will try and challenge this provision in Europe. You are fully entitled to do so.
I also understand that temperatures can run high, particularly with respect to disciplinary matters as happened last week at Lindholme. But there are established procedures for dealing with these situations and these are there to be used. If we are to have a responsible relationship, one where we try and find consensus then unlawful action cannot be substituted for the proper processes which have been developed and agreed with the Prison Officers Association. Formal and agreed procedures need to be followed.
After a period of considerable investment and additional resources in all public services we are all now having to work in an environment where money is tighter. I appreciate that, and I also recognise that the situation you face is in many respects different from that of years gone past. You are dealing with more serious offenders, longer sentences, greater numbers.
The prison population has been through a period of the most rapid expansion in its history. Nearly 2,000 more places a year compared with around a thousand a year in the preceding two decades. That programme is being accelerated still further. There were around 60,000 prison places in 1997, there are 82,000 today, there will be 96,000 by 2014.
We are also expanding the provision of skills, training and education on the inside so that they go straight on the outside.
We need to make sure that the right people are in prison, so we're looking at the women's estate and how to get those with mental health problems into more suitable accommodation and sooner.
There has been a tenfold increase in investment in drug prevention and treatment but it is still a big problem, as you know better than we. Drug abuse affects more than half of those sent to prison and we've got to do more to get people off drugs, and help them to stay off drugs by stamping out the supply in prison and improving the treatment available.
And there is a new problem, which we all have to face, that of the radicalisation of certain prisoners. Your members are the front line.
And on all of these issues, when I talk to your members, your national officers, I know that you have a wealth of knowledge and experience which we want to draw on. The answers to all these questions don't just come from us - they need also to come from you.
We will continue to cooperate with you to improve your working conditions. I am well aware that the environment in which you operate can be dangerous; violence towards prison officers and staff cannot and will not be tolerated. I have strongly backed your Zero Tolerance campaign. I have spoken to the Attorney General and the Home Secretary to ask that the police and the Crown Prosecution Service take a more vigorous approach to prosecuting assaults on staff. It is not acceptable that prison officers should have to work under the spectre of violence; and the government will work with the Prison Officers Association to give you greater protection.
There is the chance now to take forward some important reforms which will benefit the service and the Prison Officers Association. There are also some big challenges ahead, but David Hanson, Maria Eagle and myself are here because we are committed to work with the Prison Officers Association to get through these issues.