Chamber and committees

Prisoner inductionarrangements are available for all prisoners following admission.  Theinformation requested is not available.

The available data, which isconsistent with the totals given in SPS annual reports, is in the followingTable.

The available information is

(a)

(b) Records Have Only Been Kept Since 2002-03

Napier v ScottishMinisters was not a test case. Lord Bonomy’s judgement related to theconditions in Barlinnie in 2003 and the effect that these had on Mr Napier’shealth. There are currently about 440 live slopping out related court actions.These actions relate to a range of different prisons and different periods. TheSPS have received a further 1,000 letters intimating similar claims. Thepossibility of such actions was recorded in the Scottish Prison Service’sAnnual Accounts for 2003-04. Included in our 2003-04 accounts was a provisionfor £26 million representing our estimate at that point, in the light of LordBonomy’s judgement, of SPS's possible liability arising since 1999 when theEuropean Convention on Human Rights came into force in Scotland.The accounts also included a contingent liability of £136 million in respect ofother cases that might arise in connection with the European Convention ofHuman Rights. In his report on the audit of the SPS for that year, the AuditorGeneral recorded that the auditor was satisfied that the basis on which the provisionand contingent liability were estimated was reasonable and took into accountlegal advice, and commented that only the courts can determine the SPS’sultimate liability.

We are also considering withthe Home Office possible measures to prevent offenders profiting from writingabout their crimes.

One of the upper limits on the potential award of FFG or WFG is the environmental benefits which particular projects will generate by transferring freight from our roads. Equally these environmental benefits are reduced by the disbenefits of any additional lorry journeys which FFG and WFG funded projects might generate.

ASHE 2004 estimates that the median gross hourly pay for full-time professional employee jobs is £16.10. For all “other occupations” the equivalent estimate is £9. However, “other occupations” includes jobs that are quite different in terms of pay and skill level. Therefore it is useful to look at different occupation groups.

The table gives the median gross hourly pay for full-time employee jobs by major occupation group. The major occupation group is a set of broad categories that bring together occupations which are similar in terms of qualifications, training, skills and experience.

Table 1: Hourly pay - Gross (£) - For Full-Time Employee Jobs¹: Scotland, 2004

Source: Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, Office for National Statistics.

Notes:

1. Employees on adult rates whose pay for the survey pay-period was not affected by absence.

2. Major Occupation Group as defined by Standard Occupation Classification 2000 (SOC2000).

3. The median is the value below which 50 per cent of employee jobs fall. It is preferred over an arithmetic average for earnings data as it is influenced less by large or extreme values.

The recent increases are funding the implementation of the enhanced throughcare policy based on the recommendations contained in the Tripartite Group Report -Throughcare - Developing the Service which was published in January 2003. This has led to the increase in allocations to local authority Groupings from £2.5 million in 2002-03 to nearly £6 million in 2004-05.

Identification of costs incurred by the Scottish Prison Service is more complex. Throughcare is a broad concept which encompasses the work undertaken in Links centres as well as Social Work, and includes addictions, employment, accommodation, learning and skills, health and families and some of the work of personal officers.

A review of the Correctional Opportunities for Prisoners was published in January 2005. Exhibit 20 of that report indicates some of the estimated costs involved.