{"id":95621,"date":"2018-09-14T09:24:00","date_gmt":"2018-09-14T09:24:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=18fc3b29ca89af2b1d5673698c60f427"},"modified":"2018-09-14T09:24:00","modified_gmt":"2018-09-14T09:24:00","slug":"news-story-industrial-action-september-2018-rory-stewart-statement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=95621","title":{"rendered":"News story: Industrial action September 2018: Rory Stewart statements"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I am pleased that all parties have been able to bring a swift resolution to this action which, as I have made clear, was irresponsible and placed fellow staff and prisons at risk.<\/p>\n<p>The priority now must be to continue our constructive dialogue with the safety of our hard-working prison officers at its absolute heart. Ultimately our aims are the same \u2013 to see safe, secure and decent establishments that provide a positive environment for staff and prisoners.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">I have demonstrated my absolute commitment to bringing about that improvement but it will only happen if all sides work together.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Earlier in the day, Prisons Minister Rory Stewart said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Prison officers do vital and important work and we urge them to return to their duty stations, in line with their obligations to the law and the prison service.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s irresponsible for the POA to encourage their members to take this unlawful action. We are deploying our contingency plans but, by not turning up for work, these prison officers are putting their fellow staff and inmates at risk.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday we doubled the prison sentence for anyone who assaults prison officers. We\u2019ve also increased pay, provided tools such as body-worn cameras to increase security on the landings, and are investing \u00a340 million to improve the estate and tackle the drugs problem which is fuelling much of the violence. And we\u2019ve now got 3,500 new officers to help ease the burden.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">We are taking the action that needs to be taken.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h2 id=\"more-information\">More information<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/jail-time-to-double-for-assaulting-an-emergency-worker\">The Assaults on Emergency Workers Bill<\/a> received Royal Assent this week which will increase the maximum sentence for assaults against prison officers to double from six to 12 months in prison.<\/li>\n<li>We are rolling out body worn cameras, \u2018police-style\u2019 handcuffs and restraints, and trialling PAVA incapacitant spray to ensure prison officers have the tools they need to do the job safely.<\/li>\n<li>In July we announced a \u00a330 million investment including \u00a316 million to improve conditions for prisoners and staff and \u00a37 million on new security measures, including airport-security style scanners, improved searching techniques and phone-blocking technology. This also includes \u00a31 million on a digital tool which assesses information from various law enforcement databases to create a central \u2018risk rating\u2019 for each prisoner.<\/li>\n<li>Also in July we announced a \u00a39 million investment to clamp down on drugs supply and consumption at HMP Holme House, with a major emphasis on tackling addiction.<\/li>\n<li>In August we announced another <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/minister-announces-10-prisons-project-to-develop-new-model-of-excellence\">\u00a310 million would be invested in 10 difficult prisons<\/a> to curb the flow of drugs and phones, while also improving conditions as those jails and improving leadership. This will tackle drug supply by enhancing physical security at the jails; with investment in drug-detection dogs, body scanners, and improved perimeter defences.<\/li>\n<li>We will seek an injunction to bring this action to an end.<\/li>\n<li>We absolutely refute the allegation that we did not follow all the normal procedures for informing the POA about the urgent Notification at HMP Bedford.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prisons Minister Rory Stewart&#8217;s statements responding to POA action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95621"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=95621"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95621\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":95649,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95621\/revisions\/95649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=95621"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=95621"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=95621"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}