Written question asked by Chris Mullin (Labour) on Monday, 15 October 2007, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 17 October 2007. It was answered by Lord Hanson of Flint (Labour) on Monday, 22 October 2007 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Prisons: Visits

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice (1) if he will commission a report from the National Offender Management Service on the steps it is taking to provide an effective booking system for prison visits;

Answer: There are no plans to commission a report from the Prison Service, which holds policy responsibility for these matters on behalf of NOMS. The Prison Service is aware of the difficulties many visitors experience when trying to book visits. The procedures and resources for booking visits are at the discretion of governors and directors in each prison, although they are required to have an efficient system in place.The Prison Service has been pursuing improvements to visits booking and alternative options are currently being explored. In 2006, guidelines were sent to all establishments setting out practical ways of improving of visits booking, and an IT package has been made available to streamline the process. Prisons also have facilities to enable booking by e-mail to ease pressure on the telephone booking lines.In September 2007 the Prison Service published a revised policy about visits, which introduced a mandatory requirement for all governors and directors to ensure that any system for visits booking is efficient. In future this will be monitored through the relevant performance standard on visits.Information about the effectiveness of visits booking at each establishment is not collected centrally; although information about good practice at particular prisons has been disseminated as guidance to the whole estate.

Secondary information