The total figure for overtime expenditure in 2000 was £38,683,977. The largest overtime payment to any one individual was £44,485 which was paid to a prison officer in Mountjoy Prison. The average overtime per officer during 2000 was £12,336. The capacity to earn high sums in overtime arises from the preference of local prisons management and staff to operate a voluntary overtime system. Certain staff continually make themselves available for unpopular and unsocial shifts and this is accepted as it reduces the need to compel other officers to work overtime.
The prison service is continuing to monitor levels of overtime and to take corrective action where possible. The underlying problems associated with the level of additional attendance involved in the operation of the prisons do not lend themselves to short-term solutions. Staffing levels and arrangements are the product of operational circumstances which have been in place for many decades against a background, at times, of considerable tensions and difficulty. It has long been recognised that the only way to address the problem is to follow a long-term strategy which addresses the methods of deployment and conditions of service which give rise to the current high levels of overtime. This is the approach which is now being taken.
Arising from a report of the prison service cost review group, a staffing and operations review – SORT – comprising senior personnel from my Department and local prisons management, was established with the following terms of reference: (a) to provide a credible record of what is actually happening in each prison having regard to the role and function of the prison regime and the constraints which exist; (b) to establish the cost in man hours of running the prison with current rosters and work/posts, while providing for non-effective time, for example, sick leave and training; and (c) to make recommendations about how arrangements can be improved and/or work reorganised to deliver an effective service. Detailed reports have been prepared in accordance with these terms of reference on all institutions within the prison system. In addition, a global report, containing recommendations applicable service wide, was published earlier this year.