Founded 1980
Chair:        
Secretary: 
Treasurer: 

Graham Smith
Jan Thompson
Graham Mumby-Croft


Paul Laxton
Issue 87 Autumn 2022
PRISON GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE 2022 

Andrea Albutt delivered her eighth Presidential speech at the 2022 Conference, making her comfortably the Association's longest serving leader since Brendan O'Friel, and a great job she has done too. Space precludes reproducing her speech in full, but I will give you the highlights and other significant events from what was not the best attended conference I have ever seen, which speaks volumes about the workload pressures on those still in harness. The card voting strength of conference was just 425, against a membership of 1025, so just 42% of members were represented by a delegate.

Andrea spoke of the constant change at ministerial level that afflicts the service. She noted that the new Secretary of State is the ninth incumbent since 2010, and all have their own ideas about micromanaging a service in a way no Defence Minister would ever attempt with the military. The President described the dire state of recruitment with only 19 prisons boasting a 'Green' traffic light rating for prison officer posts filled. It is hoped that the significant investment in prison officer pay this year will boost both recruitment and retention, but Andrea voiced her fear that with the pay award not being fully funded by the Treasury, leading to a £65 million shortfall this year, and £85 million the next, there will be intolerable pressures on already tight budgets. At the time of writing, the government still plans capital investment in 20,000 new prison places. Can it be afforded? What does that mean for the future increased use of custody? 'How will the circle be squared?' she asked.
 Not by further overcrowding, which would be indefensible. Conference went on to pass a Motion of Urgency calling for a Royal Commission to interrogate the failings of government in respect of the prison system and to make appropriate recoimmendations. The press release is reproduced on the next page.

The Centre for Social Justice has floated what could be described as 'virtual imprisonment,' serving the sentence under house arrest monitored by electronic tagging.
 How that fits with work or going to the Doctor, and a myriad other niceties is yet to be fleshed out, but it is certainly radical and cheap. The usual backbench populists will take a jaundiced view, but it certainly gives a whole new meaning to 'doing your bird behind your door. ' The new Prisons Minister, Rob Butler, is according to Andrea, reputed to be interested in the idea. It would certainly have a massive impact on the 14,000 strong remand population. Anyway, the idea would need to interest the new Chancellor, Mr Hunt, to have any legs.

There was no ministerial speech to conference, but HMCIP, Charlie Taylor, and Phil Copple, Director General of Operations at HMPPS, both addressed the gathering and took questions. Again I can only give brief highlights. Charlie Taylor has contributed a welcome reduction in bureaucracy by getting rid of the massive list of often pettifogging recommendations. Instead HMCIP sets out the priorities in order to meet the four healthy prison tests. HMIP now inspects leadership without which successful governance is impossible, but it also looks at leadership further down the management chain. The Chief Inspector informed conference that there are now just 400 children in custody, down from 1500 in 2015.
 Unfortunately not being a delegate precluded me from asking a question about the numbers of elderly prisoners in custody, and what view HMIP takes of that particular growth area. Phil Copple spoke about the pressures in the system and said that recruitment was vital to stability and progress. He said that relations with the PGA were good and that they could ‘disagree without rancour,’ which was certainly not the case in my time on the NEC. The Director General said there would be a greater focus on the frontline, devolution of decision making, and a smaller HQ(!) There will be deeper co-operation between prisons and probation. Perhaps most interesting was his clear view that there is no scope for savings on the front line and ministers have been advised accordingly. We shall see how things play out.

The PGA’s long serving recently retired membership secretary , Kevin Billson, was awarded richly deserved Distinguished Life Membership by acclamation at conference. Graham Mumby-Croft once again chaired conference with great aplomb, and yours truly was a last minute substitute for the Gerry Hendry as Chair of Standing Orders. Gerry is unwell at the moment, and we send him our best wishes.


PAUL LAXTON