Recommendation 10

HM Government · verbatim extract Accepted

A) The Government should update the Committee on the findings of its review into Governor autonomy, including whether it will implement the Lords Home Affairs and Justice Committee’s recommendations on staffing, budgeting, and regime design Response: Accept. 29. The Government continues to recognise the value of autonomy for Governors and the innovation this can drive, whilst also balancing this with the level of central control to achieve consistency between prisons. As previously noted in the September 2025 response5 to the Justice and Home Affairs Committee’s recommendations on staffing, budgeting, and regime design, in 2023, HMPPS launched a framework for Governor empowerment—the Free, Flex, Fixed (FFF) framework of operational policy. We will continue to review Governor autonomy, looking at what we can do to support Governors whilst maintaining value for money and national consistency. 30. We also committed in our September response to a review of whether further flexibility to go outside of contracts can be offered at a local and area level. This work is ongoing. Regular HMPPS leadership meetings adopt a continuous improvement approach to finding new flexibilities and freedoms for Governors. We will continue to update Governors so that they are aware of how to access all their freedoms. B) It should also set out a clear plan for how it plans to reduce Governor turnover and support Governors to lead their establishments with greater consistency and authority Response: Accept. 31. The Government agrees with the importance of effective leadership to safe, secure and rehabilitative prison regimes. Our priority must be to address urgent operational pressures, but we agree that long-term planning in relation to Governor retention and support is important to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the prison system. As part of any wider workforce planning (see response to Recommendation 5), consideration will continue to be given to the role of Governors, including in relation to Governor autonomy. 32. In the short-term, extensive work is underway to improve development of leadership talent and ensure that Governors and senior management are well supported to effectively run their establishments. As part of HMPPS’ leadership and management offer, there are multiple programmes which support the Governor pipeline and aim to recruit and retain talented staff across HMPPS include: the Future Prison Leaders Programme, the Enabling Diverse Talent scheme, Spark Custodial and Spark Advance. 33. Under the Enable Programme, we have also implemented a new National Talent Committee to drive development of talent at Governor and Deputy Governor level across the Prison Service so that there is a strong pipeline of capable and qualified individuals to fill Governor posts in the short and medium term. The committee has met quarterly since March 2025 and is chaired by the Chief Operating Officer for Prisons, with senior HMPPS staff in attendance. It has strategic oversight over and drives action in relation to succession planning for Governor roles, talent assessment, learning and development, promotional assessments and application of policy for appointment to governing Governor roles. 34. As part of the Enable Programme, Governor induction is now in place for all first-time Governors, and available to any Governor taking up a new post. It includes a programme for their first days in post and then group sessions and exercises with other new Governors on topics that were developed based on feedback gathered from serving prison Governors. The induction, and the peer groups it will create, will provide support and training for Governors which will benefit staff working throughout their prisons. C) The Government should consider awarding the same level of autonomy to public sector Governors, as is afforded to private sector Governors. If it is decided that they should not, the Government must provide their rationale for this decision Response: Partially accept. 35. The Government partially accepts this recommendation, on the basis that we will continue to review the flexibilities that Governors have, but a balance will be struck between flexibilities and their contractual arrangements as civil servants and the accompanying guidelines. As civil servants, Governors (as well as those more senior than Governors within HMPPS) must operate within a range of guidelines including compliance with commercial policy, rules surrounding the use of public money and compliance with Civil Service Recruitment rules. 36. There are some areas where privately managed prisons may be afforded more flexibility, according to the terms of contract between the provider and the Government. For example, privately managed prisons have some flexibility in setting pay scales and can tailor advertising campaigns to reflect local needs, subject to corporate approvals. These flexibilities may be exercised by the Director, subject to management accountability and corporate controls. The extent of Governor autonomy will therefore differ between providers and individual prisons. 37. However, it should be noted that HMPPS seeks to maintain parity between the two sectors in terms of their ability to make long-term decisions about their prison’s direction, goals and policies. However, both private and public sector prisons are bound by national policy and strategy, whether through a contract or direct management.