Departmental Overtime Mr. Hoban To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what the cost of overtime payments paid to staff in his Department was in each of the last 12 months, broken down by pay grade. Mr. Wills The 24 hour, seven days a week operational nature of the Ministry’s work in various sectors of the justice service necessitates a large number of our staff to regularly provide out of hours work. This flexible additional work is required in order to better protect the public and meet the needs of a modern service. In line with good practice guidelines overtime is paid only with prior management authority to carry out specific work, which cannot be done within normal working hours. The majority of overtime paid in the Ministry of Justice relates to work done in Her Majesty’s Prison Service. Within Her Majesty’s Court Service examples of such work include provision of out of hours legal advice to judges on issues such as Emergency Protection Orders or Extradition matters, or the provision of Saturday court sittings. The Ministry of Justice is also responsible for overtime payments made to probation staff in the National Offender Management Service. The following table shows the overtime payments to staff within the Ministry of Justice broken down by month from July 2007 to August 2008. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Area of Ministry of Justice |£ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |July 2007 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|1— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |31,876.28 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |906,672.93 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |938,549.21 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |August 2007 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|1— | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |16,104.67 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |1,324,897.48| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,341,002.15| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |September 2007 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|413,339.04 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |19,722.17 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |949,660.93 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,382,722.14| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |October 2007 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|531,030.82 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |28,146.40 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |826,973.12 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,386,150.34| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |November 2007 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|700,991.79 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |17,890.91 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |1,226,404.48| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,945,287.18| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |December 2007 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|650,574.97 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |25,758.91 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |702,118.36 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,378,452.24| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |January 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|643,558.45 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |19,050.76 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |962,208.19 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,624,817.40| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |February 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|834,554.36 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |27,367.16 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |891,539.35 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,753,460.87| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |March 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|782,040.82 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |26,682.83 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |912,752.52 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,721,476.17| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |April 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|1,025,311.68| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |47,924.58 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |969,909.44 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |2,043,145.70| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |May 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|707,760.34 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |26,259.54 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |971,016.57 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,705,036.45| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |June 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|694,089.43 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |26,186.03 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |959,315.12 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |1,679,590.58| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |July 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|765,693.44 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |n/a | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |n/a | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total overtime costs |765,693.44 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |August 2008 | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Former Department for Constitutional Affairs agencies and associated offices|649,501.42 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |National Offender Management Service and Office for Criminal Justice Reform |n/a | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Her Majesty’s Prisons Service |n/a | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |Total Overtime Costs |649,501.42 | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |1 The information requested could be provided only at disproportionate cost.| | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------