NIPS Annual Report and Accounts 2012-13 - Department of Justice

ANNUAL
REPORT
and Accounts
Foreword By The Director General
I am pleased to present the 2012 – 13 Annual Report and Accounts for the
Northern Ireland Prison Service (hereafter referred to as NIPS or the Service).
This has been a difficult year
for the Service with the callous
murder of our colleague
David Black on 1 November
2012. David joined NIPS on
28 September 1982 and gave
over thirty years of dedicated
service to the community
in Northern Ireland. He was well respected by
everyone who knew him and we continue to mourn
his loss. Our thoughts remain with his wife Yvonne,
his two children and his wider family circle.
Reforming the Service
This is my first annual report as Director General of
NIPS. 2012-13 has been a busy and challenging year
for NIPS, which has seen the implementation of a
number of significant changes as part of our reform
programme.
Good progress is being made against the
extensive programme of reform, guided by the
recommendations made by the Prison Review
Team (PRT). Four recommendations have now
been completed and considerable progress is being
made against the remaining recommendations as
we continue to work with our key partners in the
Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of
Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS).
We have continued to engage with our key
stakeholders across the statutory, community
and voluntary sectors and have held a number of
workshops addressing issues such as resettlement,
women’s services and health provision.
Key progress across the year
This year has seen major changes in our workforce
with 360 staff leaving the Service as part of the
Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) scheme. There
are now 157 staff remaining on the scheme and
they will leave when it is operationally possible
for them to do so. We have secured funding for
staff to leave under the VER with the exception of
eight Governors and 20 Senior Officers and we will
continue to bid for additional funding to allow these
staff to leave.
The Service has also recruited 241 new Custody
Officers who have been deployed to the three prison
establishments and there are plans to appoint a
further 80 officers over the coming months. As well
as appointing new recruits, 166 Operational Support
Grades (OSGs) and Night Custody Officers (NCOs)
have converted to become Custody Officers. Along
with the remaining experienced officers we have a
dedicated and professional staff who will continue
to transform the Service to provide regimes that
support prisoners through custody and back into the
community.
A major milestone in the reform programme was
the introduction of a new target operating model
at all prison establishments in October 2012. The
model was developed to address staffing levels
and working practices that were out dated and
ineffective. While we are in a transitional phase
with the operating model, we will continue to work
to ensure the right numbers of staff are in the right
place at the right time and that they are doing the
right things.
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