Question Time for SPS Management

Banff and Buchan MSP Stewart Stevenson has today (Thursday) questioned the First Minister, Jack McConnell, over serious concerns about the senior management of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS). Speaking in parliament Mr Stevenson highlighted a catalogue of concerns, including an instance of the former deputy Justice Minister being thwarted by senior officials over a planned prison fact finding visit. The SNP MSP asked the First Minister whether the government could still have confidence in SPS senior management.

Mr Stevenson asked: “Does the First Minister think it is a high level of performance…that the SPS management has sat for four years on the proposal to address slopping-out at Peterhead Prison. Are your aware, First Minister, that in 2002 Richard Simpson - the then Deputy Justice Minister – was told by the SPS that permission to visit a French prison could not be obtained, while simultaneously I obtained such permission as an opposition backbencher, including permission for the Deputy Justice Minister to visit that prison. Does he agree that it is entirely unacceptable that the head of the Scottish Prison Service could not answer entirely predictable questions from the Scottish Parliament Justice Committees in both 2002, and learning nothing, again in 2004. Is the First Minister aware that my concerns are widely shared across parliament, and that progress cannot be made in the prison service without effective management.”

In response to Mr Stevenson’s questioning the First Minister stopped some way short of giving his full backing to SPS management.

Speaking after First Minister’s Question Time, Mr Stevenson said:

“The senior management of the SPS have become not only an embarrassment to the government, but as the ‘Reliance’ prisoner escort fiasco demonstrates, they have become a liability as well.

“In response to my catalogue of concerns, and the concerns of others from across the parliament chamber, I was pleased that the First Minister underlined the importance that the Scottish Executive place on the effectiveness of management. It is telling however that Mr McConnell stopped well short of offering his full backing to the SPS management, and who can blame him. The Chief Executive of the SPS, Tony Cameron, has consistently failed in his job, and like one of his ‘Reliance’ prisoners, Mr Cameron should now be released from the prison service.”