The Northern Ireland Prison Service today published its Corporate Plan for 2008-2011 and Business Plan for 2008-2009. The plan sets out the priorities, key performance targets and development objectives for the coming financial year and details the assumptions about workloads and resources which will inform the key activity areas for the Agency over the next three years. Also included in the plan is an overview and update on progress so far on the Service’s Strategic Development programme, commonly referred to as Blueprint.

Announcing publication of the Corporate and Business Plan, which was laid in Parliament today, Prisons’ Minister Paul Goggins, said:

“I have set the Prison Service challenging targets for the year ahead, in particular in reducing levels of absenteeism.

“The Prison Service is going through a major programme of change including the redevelopment of the Prison Estate which will provide 400 extra places at Maghaberry and Magilligan over the next three years to meet the needs of a rising prison population. The Service will also be working closely with the Probation Board over the coming months to develop a comprehensive strategy to meet the needs of women offenders.

“There is a huge amount of work to do but I know that I can count on the ability and commitment of the staff to work together and with other stakeholders to meet these challenges.”

Commenting on the publication Robin Masefield, Director of the Northern Ireland Prison Service, said:

“As we continue our work to deliver on our commitments to achieve the Public Service Agreement set for 2008-2011, we are also planning for the future and how we can build on the progress we have made to achieve greater public protection. We have challenging targets to meet particularly in relation to absenteeism and the Service's efficiency programme. We have 44 development objectives set out in this business plan, reflecting the broad range of changes we need to take forward.

“The Criminal Justice Order which is scheduled to be on the statute book by early May will have profound changes for our Service. We must be ready to embrace the challenges that it will bring. The need to provide additional prisoner programmes in areas such as offending behaviour, cognitive skills and substance addiction provide real opportunities for our staff to engage actively with prisoners. I am confident that colleagues with so much experience in working with prisoners will play a full role in helping to deliver this agenda on behalf of society.

“With the commitment of those staff who have joined in recent years and those joining us in the year to come, we will continue to build a Service better equipped to meet the needs of the future.”

Notes to Editors
The Prison Service has set 11 Key Performance Targets and 44 Development Objectives for the coming financial year across four headings: - business results; people and development; external relations and stakeholder involvement and finance and processes.

The Corporate and Business Plan 2008-2011 is available on the NIPS Website at www.niprisonservice.gov.uk.

Related Publication - Final NIPS_Corporate_Plan.pdf.PDF

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