- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service estates review, whether it envisages setting in its contracts for private prisons a limit on waiting times to see a social worker and whether this will be a key performance indicator, giving the reasons for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service's Vision is to improve its correctional services, of which prison social work is part, in all present and future prisons, and is, and will be, able to establish suitable contractual arrangements to achieve this.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service estates review, what basic standards it envisages for social work at private prisons, whether these will include involvement of social workers in induction, work with families, pre-release work with inmates, sentence planning and suicide risk management, and what key performance indicators will relate to these, giving the reasons for its position on these matters.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service's Vision is to improve its correctional services, of which these features are a part, in all present and future prisons, and is, and will be, able to establish suitable contractual arrangements to achieve this.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will release figures comparing relative improvements in literacy, numeracy or other basic skills for prisoners serving terms of imprisonment at private prisons and at public prisons and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to respond. His response is as follows:No such data is currently available within SPS as a whole. Since prisoners move between prisons during their sentence it is difficult to make meaningful comparisons.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service estates review, what guarantees it envisages putting in place to prevent a private prison operator withdrawing from operating a prison in breach of its contract.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service would intend putting suitable contractual arrangements in place as in the past.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) estates review, what basic standards it envisages putting in place for improvements in literacy, numeracy and other basic skills among prisoners serving terms of imprisonment at private prisons, whether any key performance indicators will relate to these standards, and what the reasons are for its position on this matter.
Answer
The Scottish Prison Service's Vision is to improve its correctional services of which literacy, numeracy and basic skills are a part. There already are KPI's relating to education, prisoner programmes and approved prisoner activities covering all existing prisons including HM Prison Kilmarnock, and SPS is and will be able to establish suitable contractual arrangements to achieve this.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service estates review, whether it would envisage drawing staff from a private prison in the event of a contingency such as a riot at another prison facility and, if so, whether any payment would be made, detailing the services that would be provided and the payment envisaged.
Answer
I have asked Tony Cameron, Chief Executive of the Scottish Prison Service to respond. His response is as follows:At present all prisons participate in mutual aid arrangements without payment. We see no reason why this practice should not continue, but we would take a final view in the procurement process.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Scottish Prison Service estates review, in estimating the cost of private prisons, has included the cost of applying freedom of information provisions to the private prison operators and, if so, what these costs were estimated as being and how they were arrived at.
Answer
No, but the costs are likely to be minimal in relation to the total costs.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service estates review, whether it will detail all types of information that will be regarded as commercially confidential in its dealings with private prison operators.
Answer
Such details would be considered by the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) in the procurement process. The intention would be to maximise the information availability subject to consideration of any potential impact on security and value for money as was done by SPS in the contract for HM Prison Kilmarnock.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Andy Kerr on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will detail the work that PricewaterhouseCoopers and its predecessor firms have done for it in the last 10 years, specifying the work produced, the type of work and the price paid in each case.
Answer
The information requested is not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. However, the answer given to question S1W-22582 on 14 February 2002 provided details of expenditure with PricewaterhouseCoopers since 1997.
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
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Date lodged: Thursday, 11 April 2002
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Current Status:
Answered by Jim Wallace on 9 May 2002
To ask the Scottish Executive, in relation to the Scottish Prison Service estates review, what procedures will be used for vetting the operating track record of companies tendering to operate private prisons.
Answer
Such matters would be considered by the Scottish Prison Service in the procurement process.
