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(i) General office
11.1 Since our last inspection, the administration function had undergone a process of civilianisation and the new structure was now well established. Overall responsibility for managing the function lay with a Finance Administration manager, who was well supported by an office manager. The complement included a criminal desk administrator, a procurement specialist and a canteen/reception administrator whilst a combination of part-time and job-sharing personnel took responsibility for cash and clerical support. Relief cover for critical areas was achieved by a multi-skilled approach to specific jobs with the long term strategy for the whole function being designed around this approach.
10.11 The accommodation was bright, spacious and of a good standard of repair. The function was well resourced with SPIN terminals and staff were competent in other aspects of office duties. We were satisfied that all aspects of the criminal desk were being operated in accordance with SPS guidelines and systems were in place for confirming warrants. PRS was audited and where necessary, records amended.
11.3 The Finance manager was an active member of the heads of departments policy group which met regularly to discuss expenditure and monitor the budget. Systems were also in place to ensure that devolved budgets were easily understood and expenditure controlled. The manager also had responsibility for training in managing budgets when specific requests of that nature arose.
11.4 The overall impression gained was one of a competent, flexible workforce, delivering a quality service which fully supported the running of the establishment.
(ii) Stores
11.5 The main stores area was located in the basement area of the Administration Block and comprised two rooms; there was also a floating stock area in 'B' Hall to which the Storeman held the key. The Staff Uniform store was spacious, bright and well laid out and had a lockable side room were staff could try on any items of clothing. It was well stocked and the storeman indicated that he had no difficulty ordering and maintaining stock items. The General Store was tidy with a well-stocked emergency store, though day to day items were ordered on an as required basis, with requisition forms being completed to the agreed procurement standards. The General Office retained responsibility for the purchasing of items such as electrical equipment, with quotes again sought in line with the agreed SPS procurement policy.
11.6 The SPIN system was co-ordinated by an Officer on a part time basis. The establishment was adequately catered for with regard to terminals (35) but with only nine printers, there was a requirement for staff working in residential Halls and in the health centre to uplift printed material outwith their area of work. Not only was this inconvenient to the users but also it had the potential to compromise the system's security if they did not log off prior to leaving their work stations. It was indicated to us, however, that the refurbishment of the Residential areas would incorporate printers thereby eliminating this deficiency. A roll out programme, which would see the installation of 40 new computers, should have been completed last year but had been delayed and at the time of our visit, no date for starting this work appeared imminent.
11.7 It was the view of the co-ordinator - and supported by staff comment - that there was a need for further training in PRS and that the use of e-mail and other functions could be extended if more staff were competent in its use. Those limited to 'Agresso' were fully conversant with the system but although three staff had been trained in 'Quest', its use had been so limited that it was now questionable whether they remained sufficiently competent to maximise the benefits of this particular function. The co-ordinator was responsible for carrying out integrity checks on PRS but due to other commitments, these were not as extensive nor as frequent as he would have liked.
11.8 The day to day business of SPIN appeared to be operating satisfactorily. There was a sense, however, that the benefits of the technology could be better explored and that the potential to improve communication and reduce paperwork was not being fully realised by all users. Maximising Quest for producing management information reports was limited and there was no indication that exploiting this medium featured in staff development plans, though shortfalls in other functions of IT - such as Basic Word and Excel - had been identified. Evidently, the IT culture had not been embraced by a significant number of staff and there was, therefore, a requirement to raise its profile, both in terms of training and encouraging it as an important vehicle for communication.
11.9 The establishment's Ethnic Minorities Liaison Officer (EMLO) was an Operations Supervisor who stated that he was in the process of appointing a deputy.
11.10 All admissions from ethnic minority backgrounds were brought to the attention of the EMLO who then made contact as soon as possible after admission. Literature in many different languages was available, as were SHAP calendars. The EMLO said that he had excellent support from the Immigration authorities at Glasgow Airport. He also had a list of local solicitors who were prepared to help in these circumstances and police interpreters and local foreign language teachers were available to assist with non-English speaking individuals.
10.11 In overall terms, we were satisfied that proper arrangements were in place to cater for the specific needs of prisoners from ethnic minority backgrounds.
11.12 The Community Liaison Officer had been carrying out that task for four years but said that prior to assuming that role, he had received no specific training. Nevertheless, we found that a very wide range of activities was being undertaken, including the following:-
11.13 The establishment was also closely involved in a project entitled "Prison! Me! No Way!". This involved the Community Liaison Officer and others lecturing to schools throughout Dumfriesshire and Kirkcudbright about the effects of imprisonment and in turn, pupils were also able to visit the Institution. In the last year, between 400 and 500 pupils had been so involved.
11.14 We considered the liaison between the Institution and the local community to be quite excellent and possibly the best we had seen for some time, despite the fact that there did not appear to be much central co-ordination involved. A very wide range of activities was taking place, of which the above is only a sample. It was clear that considerable efforts had been made to make the community aware of what their local penal establishment was doing, as well as the work being done with YOs from further afield. We understand that Dumfries is one of only two establishments in Scotland taking part in the "Prison! Me! No Way!" initiative but we thought that this scheme was a quite excellent example of practical crime prevention. We commend all those volunteer Officers who were involved, especially as we were told that some were paying for their own travel costs.
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