Offender Management Bill

I fully recognise thatthe basis of the amendments, tabled by the noble Viscount, Lord Bridgeman, the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, my noble friend Lord Judd and the noble Lord, Lord Ramsbotham, is a concern to ensure, quite properly, that staff are competent to do their jobs and that we have the right safeguards to ensure that security and decent treatment of prisoners are not compromised. I especially understand the concerns about those detained in youth custody and secure training centres. The Committee will not be surprised to know that I share many of those concerns and that the Government are utterly committed to the maintenance of high standards of service delivery because we recognise that that is the only way to achieve the results on which there is a comity of view. Including this area in the Bill and specifying requirements on training was the subject of much attention in another place. My understanding is that similar amendments were moved there but rejected. It is still our view that including such a requirement is unnecessary in the light of safeguards in the clause and elsewhere. Differences between public and private sector prisons are unnecessary and inefficient, aswell as detrimental to operations and security. We do, however, recognise the very genuine concerns raised by these two amendments and are completely committed to ensuring that the treatment of children and vulnerable adults is to a high standard. The changes we are making in Clause 14 mean that private prison staff—PCOs—are more likely to detect items being illicitly brought into private prisons. We therefore need to give them effective powers to detain suspected offenders until the police can arrive to arrest the individual in the same way as prison officers operate in the public sector, because they have constabulary powers. We resist these amendments not because their objective is wrong but because the restrictions they would put in place duplicate existing practice. Additionally, any greater detail that might be thought necessary for the clarification of certain obligations can better be achieved through the contractual process. We must not forget that many safeguards already exist to ensure proper treatment of all visitors. First, PCO staff are required to be properly trained in all aspects of their job, and the quality of their training is open to inspection by the controller, who also approves the content of their training course—so there is already that independent view. The course includes sessions on correct searching techniques and child protection. Passing the course is a condition of employment as a PCO. Secondly, PCOs are subject to certification systems, to ensure they are competent and suitable, by the PCO Certification Unit, which is a public sector body. In addition, private providersare required to comply with the National Security Framework (NSF) covering both public and private prisons, which details the precise techniques that must be followed when searching children and vulnerable adults. We believe that these training measures will be sufficient, when they have been adapted to take account of the new power, to ensure that detention under the new power is carried out in an appropriate and lawful manner. In our view, the above measures, which have been in place since PCOs first started to discharge their duties, achieve the aims that the amendments seekto further. Consequently, it is difficult to see whatthe amendments usefully add in the absence of any concern that current training levels are inadequate for their purpose. In addition to the above, the controller plus Independent Monitoring Board members at the prison can witness at first hand that the correct techniques identified in the NSF are being rigorously applied. Failure to comply can be punished via existing contractual mechanisms, including by the application of financial penalties on the company running the prison. I am also concerned that the amendments would not apply equally to the public and private sectors. There is no similar requirement for prison officers to be trained in this way, yet they would be employing exactly the same techniques—and they operate around 85 per cent of the prisons in England and Wales. It is wrong to label private prison employees as in some way less competent than their public sector counterparts, when we know that there is good and poor practice in both sectors. Martin Narey has said that it would not have been possible to achieve the decency agenda in prisons had it not been for the involvement of the private sector. To the extent that it might be said that private contractors need to be made more aware of the details of their obligations—for example, with regard to conducting searches of, and detaining, children—we believe that a fair solution, which achieves precisely the outcome sought in the amendment, is to commit to ensuring that appropriate training in all aspects of the work and compliance with the NSF remain contractual requirements. Failure to provide properly trained staff or to adhere to approved searching techniques will be punished via existing contractual mechanisms, which include financial penalties. The controller will be able to oversee compliance as necessary. This means we can ensure that private prison staff are operating to the same standards as those in the public sector and that children are protected as they need to be, but also allows us the flexibility to respond to changes in training needs in the future without having to have recourse to primary legislation, which in this instance would be a clumsy way of tackling something that we all agree is important. The noble Earl, Lord Listowel, asked how far the five-day training had been rolled out. I would liketo answer him today but cannot. However, I will endeavour to write to him on that important background information. It is important that one essential matter is carefully considered in this debate: that the clause itself deals with a very short period of detention on suspicion of crime. I understand the valid concerns raised today but they relate to those detained in custody. This clause, of course, deals with visitors, not prisoners.