Public and Commercial Services Union
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Union Responds To Constitutional Affairs Committee Report
PCS, the largest trade union representing staff in the MoJ, echoed yesterday's Constitutional Affairs Committee's criticism of the government's inadequate consultation on the creation of the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
The union also echoed the 'indecent haste' in which the new ministry had been created and highlighted the lack of proper planning and resourcing, going on to warn that the department were storing up problems for the future.
PCS urged the Treasury to reverse a freeze in the budgets of the component departments of the new ministry, including a planned 15% cut in the budget of the core Ministry of Justice courts budget between 2008 and 2011, as well as cuts in the Prison Service budget at a time when the prison population stands at a record high.
Whilst the Constitutional Affairs Committee had correctly identified tensions between different parts of the ministry as a result of the 'amalgamation of responsibilities and budgets' and singled out for concern the 'real conflict of demand on a single budget', the union stressed that the size of the overall budget itself should be the key consideration.
The union warned that the new ministry would fail if it wasn't properly resourced and if planned cuts went ahead. The union also called for a period of stability and consolidation and with staff on different pay, terms and conditions transferring in to create the new department, the union warned that controversial plans for a regional pay system would be unfair and divisive.
Commenting, Nick McCarthy, PCS Senior National Officer for the ministry, said: "If the ministry is to succeed, then it needs to be properly resourced and properly staffed. Ploughing ahead with planned cuts and divisive pay systems, will undermine the new department from the start and hit the morale of staff who are already trying to keep the justice system running against a backdrop of low pay and cuts. There is a real tension between the courts and prisons as to who gets access to limited budgets and rather than see an unsightly squabble over 'slices of the cake', the success of the new ministry depends on being properly resourced at the outset."
