Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 687: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the extent to which the new annualised hour contracts have impacted on the delivery of service and on the efficiency of services since they have been introduced; his views on whether some adverse outcomes have accompanied these changes, such as, longer lock-up hours for prisoners, particularly those in high risk categories; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10854/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Deputy is referring to the proposal for organisational change in the Irish Prison Service which was accepted by staff in August 2005. The central element of the agreement is the replacement of overtime with a new additional hours system which is broadly based on the concept of annualised hours.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have reversed the unacceptable trend of spiralling overtime costs which has been a feature of our prisons operations for many years. As a result of my determination to tackle this unsustainable dependence on overtime to run our prisons there was a reduction in the overtime bill of some €13.4 million in 2004 compared to 2003.

The Deputy will appreciate that it takes time and a great deal of effort to roll out such a major programme of change. The agreement provides for implementation of the new additional hours arrangements and the elimination of overtime working across the service within six months of the date of acceptance, i.e., by 18 February 2006. These new working arrangements were successfully rolled out in the various prisons and places of detention in three phases, with the final group of prisons "going live" on 11 February 2006.

As regards the extent to which the new additional hours contracts have impacted on the delivery of service and on the efficiency of services since they were introduced, progress is being made, even though the new arrangements have only been in place for a short period of time. As regards the issue of longer lock up times, I can confirm that standard out of cell times across prisons have been maintained and there are no plans to introduce longer lock up times for prisoners generally or for high risk prisoners in the context of the new arrangements.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 688: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the key performance indicators which he monitors in respect of cost and efficiency of service in respect of the prison service; and the way in which these have moved in respect of the Dublin prisons in the past three years. [10855/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The key performance indicator identifying the cost and efficiency for the prison service is the cost of keeping an offender in prison. This has fallen over the last three years from €84,750 in 2002 to €83,800 in 2004 as set out below. The reduction in cost is due to the strict budget management, and in particular overtime management. In this regard, I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have reversed the unacceptable trend of spiralling overtime costs which has been a feature of our prisons operations for many years. As a result of my determination to tackle this unsustainable dependence on overtime to run our prisons there was a reduction in the overtime bill of some €13.4 million in 2004 compared to 2003.

Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 689: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the key service indicators which his Department uses to monitor the quality of services standards in prisons here; and the way in which these have moved in the past three years in respect of the Dublin prisons (details supplied). [10856/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I am pleased to advise the Deputy that new working arrangements under the agreed proposal for organisational change should enhance prisoner regimes in the years ahead, particularly in terms of improving availability and facilities, and making the most of out of cell time for prisoners.

Apart from service levels, there are issues too in regard to quality of services. Rigorous standard setting and external review mechanisms have been responsible for the transformation of areas such as prison hygiene and catering standards in recent years, to the point where prison kitchens are consistent recipients of national awards. Health care standards are in place since 2004 and it is intended that the first audit will take place in 2006. In the period 2006-08, the intention is to build on these successes by extending minimum standards and measurement systems into other areas of prisoner care. This will be driven by a more broadly based care standards framework which is being developed.

These standards and service levels will be supported by the introduction of information technology that will provide key management information which will inform improvements in service levels and standards. A work training database that records prisoner participation in pre-vocational and vocational training was introduced in 2005.