Quality employment and quality public services Quality of employment in prisons Country report: Britain Lewis Emery, Labour Research Department The production of this report has been financially supported by the European Union. The European Union is not responsible for any use made of the information contained in this publication. This report is part of a project, Quality Employment and Quality Public Services, run by the European Federation of Public Services with research coordinated by HIVA Project management: Monique Ramioul Project researcher: Yennef Vereycken KU Leuven HIVA RESEARCH INSTITUTE FOR WORK AND SOCIETY Parkstraat 47 box 5300, 3000 LEUVEN, Belgium [email protected] http://hiva.kuleuven.be Q uality of employment in prisons | 1 Contents Contents .................................................................................................................................................. 1 Summary ................................................................................................................................................. 5 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 7 1.1 Acknowledging the problems ....................................................................................................... 8 1.2 Birmingham and other “incidents” ............................................................................................... 9 1.3 Short-term responses, longer-term reform ................................................................................ 10 1.4 Job not yet done ......................................................................................................................... 12 1.5 Social partners ............................................................................................................................ 12 1.6 About this report ......................................................................................................................... 14 2. The prison system ............................................................................................................................. 14 2.1 Managing prison operations and policy...................................................................................... 15 2.2 The prison estate ........................................................................................................................ 16 2.3 Prison population ........................................................................................................................ 16 2.4 Categorising risk .......................................................................................................................... 17 2.5 Prisoner profile ........................................................................................................................... 17 2.6 Women in prison ......................................................................................................................... 18 2.7 Overcrowding .............................................................................................................................. 18 2.8 Workforce ................................................................................................................................... 19 Table 1: HMPPS staff in post (FTE March 2018) ........................................................................... 20 Chart 1: Decline in operational staff 2010-2017 ........................................................................... 21 2.9 Recruitment ................................................................................................................................ 21 2.10 Workforce diversity ................................................................................................................... 22 Table 2: Proportion of women in the prison workforce by grade ................................................ 23 2.11 Private prison staffing ............................................................................................................... 23 2.12 Benchmarking and New Ways of Working ............................................................................... 23 2.13 Staffing under Benchmarking ................................................................................................... 26 2.14 The “non-effective” rate ........................................................................................................... 27 2.15 Main roles in the prison workforce ........................................................................................... 27 Table 3: Standard prison tasks ...................................................................................................... 28 2.16 Non-direct employees ............................................................................................................... 29 2.17 Healthcare staff ......................................................................................................................... 29 2.17.1 The prison system for healthcare staff .............................................................................. 29 2.17.2 How the prison service works for healthcare staff ............................................................ 30 2.17.3 Prison jobs for healthcare staff .......................................................................................... 31 2.17.4 Industrial relations for healthcare staff ............................................................................. 31 2.17.5 Regulation of prison employment for healthcare staff ..................................................... 31 2.17.6 Healthcare staff wellbeing ................................................................................................. 31 2.17.7 Health and safety for healthcare staff ............................................................................... 32 2.17.8 Pay and conditions for healthcare staff ............................................................................. 32 Q uality of employment in prisons | 2 2.17.9 Voice of healthcare staff prison ......................................................................................... 32 2.17.10 RCN perspective ............................................................................................................... 32 2.18 Education staff .......................................................................................................................... 32 2.18.1 Education and employment in the prison system ............................................................. 33 2.18.2 How the prison system works for educators ..................................................................... 33 2.18.3 Job content for educators .................................................................................................. 33 2.18.4 Industrial relations for prison educators ........................................................................... 34 2.18.5 Regulation of prison employment ..................................................................................... 34 2.18.6 Staff wellbeing for educators ............................................................................................. 35 2.18.7 Health and safety issues for prison educators ................................................................... 35 2.18.8 Pay and conditions for prison educators ........................................................................... 35 2.18.9 Voice at work for educators ............................................................................................... 36 2.18.10 UCU perspective............................................................................................................... 36 2.19 Facilities management .............................................................................................................. 36 2.19.1 Contracted-out staff........................................................................................................... 37 2.19.2 How the prison service works for FM staff ........................................................................ 38 2.19.3 Prison jobs for FM staff ...................................................................................................... 38 2.19.4 Industrial relations for FM staff ......................................................................................... 38 2.19.5 Regulation of prison employment for FM staff ................................................................. 39 2.19.6 Wellbeing for FM staff ....................................................................................................... 39 2.19.7 Health and safety for FM staff ........................................................................................... 39 2.19.8 Pay and conditions for FM staff ......................................................................................... 39 2.19.9 Voice in prison for FM staff ................................................................................................ 39 2.19.10 Unite perspective ............................................................................................................. 40 3. Prison aims and realities ................................................................................................................... 40 3.1 Prison ethos ...............................................................................................................................