11. Administration and Other Services

Administration

11.1 Overall responsibility for administrative matters rested with the Finance and Administration Manager who was in charge of three Departments - viz., Accounts, Procurement/Stores and the General Office.

(i) Accounts

11.2 The Accounts Manager was responsible for all the financial transactions within the establishment as well as having general oversight of Canteens - see paragraphs 7.9-10 - and we were satisfied that financial procedures were in accordance with SPS instructions.

(ii) Procurement/Stores

11.3 Staffing in the stores complex comprised a Procurement and Stores Manager who was supported by an Administration Officer and four staff. All procedures appeared to be in accordance with SPS instructions. The office accommodation was rather cramped with every available area, including corridors, being used for some purpose or other. For example, there was a small food preparation area which was adjacent to the toilets and was not therefore an ideal location. Part of the problem was the sharing of the area with staff in the Accounts Section, though that situation was due to be resolved shortly - see paragraph 11.4.

11.4 The actual stores were located on two floors in an area adjacent to the office accommodation. On the upper floor were the expense, stationery and prisoners clothing stores as well as a secure staff uniform storage area. It had been decided to move the Accounts Section into the area presently occupied by the uniform store for which an alternative location would have to be found. On the ground floor of the building was a large area that was used to hold bulk items of laundry which were sent to HMP Shotts, as well as a large collection of miscellaneous items. This part of the building was being used inefficiently and if the items which were stored there were to be disposed of, then sufficient storage space would be available.

11.5 The main problems affecting the operation of the stores were (i) difficulties in obtaining certain items of staff uniform (though it was hoped that a change in supplier would resolve those difficulties), (ii) the recent introduction of a new computerised financial system with very little advance warning and a lack of proper training in its operation` and (iii) not always knowing what was going to arrive from SPS Central Stores until the delivery van arrived. At present Barlinnie gets two deliveries per month and it was suggested to us that a third monthly delivery would ease those latter problems. One other issue that was of concern to the staff was in having to dispose of contaminated items of equipment - e.g. from the Health Centre - and it would appear that there would be benefit in producing some local guidelines for such situations.

(iii) General Office

11.6 The Office Manager had only recently taken up her appointment but to help with the transition period, the previous Manager - who was a uniformed Officer - had agreed to delay his retirement. Though the complement was sufficient to cover all tasks, one of the desks was not manned at the time of our inspection. In addition, staff had only been trained in their own duties which made the covering of vacant posts difficult. The Office Manager was, however, about to introduce a system of desk rotation to prevent such a situation occurring in the future and there were also plans to introduce some revised working practices to improve the existing service delivery. One specific area requiring attention was in relation to Parole work due to the fact that large numbers of LTPs were being held in the establishment. Staff within the Administration function were unsure of the requirements of parole casework but plans were in hand to address this problem.

11.7 Accommodation within the Office was very cramped but although not an ideal working environment, there were plans to extend the Office accommodation into the staff muster area once the new staff facilities opened - see paragraph 9.20. We were pleased to note that the telephone system and the working environment for the telephonist, the subject of criticism during our last inspection, had been improved.

SPIN

11.8 A full time SPIN Co-ordinator was in post and reported directly to the Finance Manager. He had been in post for a year and saw his role as that of servicing the hardware and liaising with SPS HQ on SPIN Developments. A total of 104 computer terminals were installed throughout the establishment, with some 50 having been added in the last year.

11.9 The SPIN co-ordinator attended regular meetings with SPS HQ and field colleagues and suitable systems were in place to ensure that IT formed part of the planning for any redevelopment of the estate. All major aspects of the system were being used and though the Prisoners Records System had not been audited since August 1996, regular audits were being planned.

11.10 Training was piecemeal, a situation exacerbated by the lack of an appropriate training infrastructure. In our view, SPIN training should form an integral part of the establishment’s training plan to ensure that staff are allowed to develop and maintain competency levels.

Race Relations

11.11 Overall responsibility for race relations issues rested with one of the Residential Unit Managers. Recently he had established a local network under which three Officers, who were based in the areas where prisoners from ethnic minority backgrounds were more likely to be located, had been appointed as Deputy Ethnic Minority Liaison Officers (EMLO). Each of these Officers had recently undergone training and they were the first point of contact for any problems. Also within this local structure was a Chaplain who ensured that all special religious needs were being attended to, a member of staff from the kitchen who was responsible for preparing any special dietary requirements and the Health Centre Manager who attended to any medical needs. On average, about five ethnic minority prisoners were in the establishment at any given time.

11.12 Good relations had been established with the West of Scotland Community Relations Council who had expressed their satisfaction with the arrangements that had been put in place; a representative of the Council also made regular visits to the establishment and was available to provide advice or assistance when required. Where necessary, the services of interpreters were purchased though there was a number of staff in the establishment who were proficient in a variety of languages and who were happy to help if required.

11.13 In overall terms, we were satisfied that the needs of prisoners from ethnic minority backgrounds were being adequately looked after and we were pleased to learn that reported incidents of racial abuse were rare.

Equal Opportunities

11.14 At the time of the Inspection there was no designated Equal Opportunities Officer, a situation which appeared to have prevailed for some time. Also, there was no Equal Opportunities Committee in operation and it appeared that as and when issues arose, they would be dealt with by the most appropriate manager. There was, however, little evidence of any planning or development in this area.

11.15 Considering the range of equal opportunity issues that require to be addressed, we were extremely disappointed at what little we found in terms of structure or systems. There is no doubt that local management would have been taking issues of disability, etc into account in the commissioning of new buildings and other upgrading work, but there was still a significant gap spanning local policy, staff training and development issues. We suggest, therefore, that an Equal Opportunities Officer should be appointed forthwith, quickly followed by the setting up of an Equal Opportunities Committee.