Andrea Albutt

It is extremely energising to have you all at this year's annual conference. It feels an age since I last stood on this podium looking out at a sea of familiar faces, interspersed with new ones, eager to see what we are all about. Each one of you are very much welcomed here today and as its two years since our last conference, let's make this a memorable one!

My opening address this year will focus on the future and will pose many questions for you, our senior leaders and Government, but first of all I must make comment on the last 2 years.

In October 2019, the Prison Governors' Association (PGA) held its last annual conference. A well-attended and engaging event, setting the agenda for the Association over the coming year. Not one person in this conference hall had any inkling that the coming year would have such far reaching consequences, both at home and at a global level, and it would be continuing to this day. The covid pandemic has touched every one of us, and sadly there will be those who have lost loved ones, friends and colleagues to this awful virus. There will be those who have been ill from the virus and may be suffering longer term health issues and those of you who have felt mental stress and anxiety due to such unprecedented changes and threats to our precious way of life. You have been in our thoughts throughout this period.

When faced with the magnitude of covid in prisons, the response from HMPPS was swift and coordinated, placing the entire service in command mode to manage the looming crisis. Strong leadership from our Director General and his senior team, with support from public health experts gave Governors a national framework to manage the risk. The response from members across all parts of the organisation was nothing short of magnificent. You prevented the deaths of thousands of prisoners and significant numbers of staff and, against the odds, managed to keep safety, order and control within prisons. The magnitude of this success cannot be underestimated, but we know it has come at a cost with impact on your health and well-being and that of your staff.

Nineteen months on from the first lockdown and with society virtually running as normal and learning to live with covid, the question now needs to be asked if the level of covid restrictions in prisons are needed as there feels a disconnect with society. Do we still need the centralisation of command mode and Covid Gold, or is this a disproportionate and over cautious response? Are Governors feeling held back by this centralised approach and is it now time for decisions and risk to be managed locally?

As we move through recovery and into reform, the future looks uncertain. Learning from the pandemic will influence future regime, but what will these new regimes look like, and will there be increased funding to deliver them? With an economy stressed from the last eighteen months, financial pressures are significant across the Civil Service. Many hopes are pinned on the spending review due shortly, but with so much competition for decent settlements, there will be winners and losers. When we hear the term reform, many of us feel a sense of dread and déjà vu! We have been here many times before; in fact, it feels like we have been in a constant state of reform but never actually achieved the end goal! Will covid reset the button?

Robert Buckland, former Lord Chancellor on 20th July 2021 stated the following,

"In many ways, there will be no going back to how things were done before and the Government is determined to seize the opportunity to build back a better prisons system - one that not only has better outcomes but also enables staff to keep better order and spot safety concerns much more easily"

Not one person in this room would disagree with the sentiment in this statement, but the big question is how we will do this with such a difficult fiscal position. The Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has warned that inflation will top 4% in the coming months, and it has been widely reported that the UK has hit its biggest economic decline in 300 years. This is against a backdrop of the Prison Service budgets already stretched. Unfunded inflationary costs of contracts increasing year on year, future pay awards better than government funding, increased costs of utilities, contributions to the Health & Social Care Levy, to name but a few, all add further pressure on budgets. We are told that the frontline will be protected, but many of us have been around years, and in difficult times like this, there is usually a negative impact on delivery in prisons.

In the next few weeks, we will receive the settlement from the spending review (SR). Much of the reform engagement with the PGA has centred around the many bids for SR money submitted by the Ministry of Justice and our future success is predicated on receiving a significant settlement. The Chancellor will announce the conclusions of the 2021 Spending review in an Autumn Budget on October 27th. Mr Sunak stated: "At the Spending Review later this year, I will set out how we will continue to invest in public services and drive growth while keeping the public finances on a sustainable path".

We must be honest; prisons are not vote winners and the mood music is that there will probably be an election in 2023. When competing with our much-loved NHS which has been pushed beyond the limit dealing with the pandemic, the education of our children who are our future, and the levelling up agenda, prisons just don't have the same appeal. We wait with trepidation the announcements on 27th October. What will a poor settlement mean for the Service and the incredibly challenging work we do?

We cannot achieve the future aspirations for prisons without competent and confident staff to deliver it. The average starting salary for a prison officer is around £23,000. This is not a competitive wage for the work they do. We are fishing in the same pool as retail workers and whilst this is an essential role, it does not compare to the demanding, often dangerous work in prisons. This Government refused to implement last year's Pay Review Body Recommendation 3 which was designed to start the process of resolving the long-standing issues of a 2-tier pay structure, recruitment, retention and market supplement issues. We are waiting for the delayed 2021 report which is due to be released week commencing 18th October. Is it any wonder then, that last month, applications for prison officer were down 40% and attrition was at its highest rate ever? Health & wellbeing along with pay and reward are the biggest reasons why people leave. We are reaching a situation where recruitment cannot keep up with the level of resignations. This is incredibly worrying, particularly when Rishi Sunak, during a media interview on 4th October, stated there were currently record numbers of job vacancies.

The prison population is beginning to rise again. Government has committed to increasing prison places by 18,000 and there is a programme of new build prisons and expansion in existing jails. However, with crown court backlog approximately 60,000 and a need to address this at speed, along with 20,000 extra police officers to tackle crime, and a government policy of increasing the length of sentences, demand for places is highly likely to outstrip the expansion programme by 2023. There remain parts of the prison estate which are not fit for purpose and without urgent investment will either remain closed or will have to be closed until investment makes them safe to be opened again. Most of the new builds are in the training estate, but any increase in population must come through Reception Prisons initially. These prisons are generally the least stable, highest churn and it can be argued have never been adequately funded for the level of risk they carry. The prison system is already under pressure. Expanding at speed will increase the operational demands and risks, particularly if existing prisons are expected to increase crowding, which is highly likely. What criteria will be used to assess what is a safe and decent operational capacity?

This now brings me onto safety and stability. The last decade saw unprecedented levels of suicide, self-harm, assaults prisoner on staff and prisoner on prisoner. The statistics were horrific, and we can never return to those days. Despite huge focus prior to the pandemic, safety improvements were slow and tentative. It is difficult to do an assessment of safety during the pandemic as prisoners were locked up and when unlocked it was in small numbers, so naturally it improved. That said, recent statistics are volatile and concerning as we open regimes from covid, and the next few months' data will give a clearer indication of trends. It is troubling that assaults on staff appear to be rising again and this is against a backdrop of record numbers leaving the job. Whatever the future holds for prisons, there can never be a compromise on safety, there can never be insufficient resource to ensure the safety of those who live and work in our establishments. It is a cost we are not prepared to pay.

The issues facing us are numerous, but well known to us too. However, there may be a knight in shining armour just around the corner in the guise of our new Justice Secretary. The new Lord Chancellor and Deputy Prime Minister, Dominic Raab has joined the team. On the 23rd September, Mr Raab gave an in-person address to Ministry staff in 102 Petty France. He set out his priorities for the next 2 years, and I am delighted to say, prisons came first! He wants to focus on the prison building programme and capacity, safety, stability and reducing re-offending. I don't think any of us would argue with these priorities, but investment is needed to deliver this and manage the risks I have spoken about. Maybe having such a senior politician in our midst, the SR funding we so desperately need may not be a pipe dream but a reality? Maybe Mr Raab will have enough sway to encourage his Treasury colleagues, that prisons are worth investing in, that we deserve a decent slice of the pie and in the bun fight for resources we are not forgotten?

Robert Buckland QC, in his resignation letter of the 15th September wrote, "Justice is beyond price." I hope the new minister will feel the same and call for a major investment in the justice system. It needs it!

So, all that remains for me to say and to coin an often used, blunt and unambiguous phrase, Lord Chancellor, Justice Secretary and Deputy Prime Minister Raab, put your money where your mouth is!

Thank you and enjoy conference.

ANDREA ALBUTT PRESIDENT OF THE PRISON GOVERNORS ASSOCIATION