McConnell defends reallocation of prison funds

JACK McConnell yesterday issued a robust defence of the Scottish Executive’s failure to end slopping out in Scotland’s prisons, saying the money had been spent on the war against drugs.

The First Minister defended the decision made in 1999 to switch 13 million from the budget of the Scottish Prison Service (SPS) to pay for the establishment of a Drug Enforcement Agency.

The Executive’s decision not to end slopping out has been under fierce scrutiny this week after a ruling by Lord Bonomy on Monday that the practice contravened the human rights of a prisoner from Barlinnie jail in Glasgow.

Robert Napier was awarded damages of 2,450 in the landmark ruling, which could open the floodgates for other damages claims from other prisoners totalling millions of pounds. Currently, some 1,200 prisoners are still slopping out.

This decision to remove 13 million from the budget of the SPS was cited by Lord Bonomy as evidence that ministers could have ended the practice of slopping out at Barlinnie’s C hall much earlier.

Jim Wallace, the deputy first minister, was justice minister at the time, while Mr McConnell was in charge of finance.

Mr McConnell said yesterday: "There is a problem in Scottish prisons with the issue of slopping out, but it’s a problem that could have been dealt with in the early 1990s when the Tory government were allocating resources to end slopping out in England and Wales, but not Scotland.

"They have left us to pick up that challenge, but there should be no doubt as to the determination of this partnership government to end slopping out, and to do so as the resources that we have allow us to."

Mr Wallace said ministers had been right to invest money in 1999 in the drugs agency: "There was no part of that 13million that had been earmarked for any specific project with regard to slopping out," he said.

Mr Wallace insisted the first Holyrood administration had "grasped the nettle" of prison modernisation and 1 million a week was being invested.

The Scottish Conservative justice spokeswoman, Annabel Goldie, said Lord Bonomy’s ruling made it plain that the Scottish government took a deliberate decision not to address slopping out despite having the resources and capacity to do so. "It is clear that deliberate actions by the Executive, most notably the withdrawal of 13 million funding in 1999, and the delay in ending slopping out from the Tory target date of 1999 to an unspecified time in the future led directly to the compensation ruling and the possibility of multi-million-pound claims to follow," Ms Goldie said.

"As Lord Bonomy says, the fact that the target slipped was, purely and simply, a matter of choice by the Executive."

She added: "Mr McConnell was finance minister during a period when his government squandered and continues to waste ten of millions of pounds every year."