1. EMPLOYABILITY &
HM PRISON SERVICE
Ken Seed MBE,
Drug Strategy and Programmes Manager,
HMP Preston

2. NOMS
• About NOMS
• Preventing victims by changing lives
• Our Statement of Purpose
• Our Vision
• Our Values

3. Transferable skills learned ?
• Presentation - Clear communication to others, visual representation of concepts, passing
knowledge over to others clearly.
• Computer / Social Networking – Adept with technology, communicative, involved.
• Administration / Organisation – Prioritisation, maintaining control, strong time
management.
• Literacy / Writing – Make points clearly, argue with reason, persuade and convince,
communicate information to a range of people.
• Evaluation / Critical Thinking – Provide solutions, take a broad perspective,
confidently engage with concepts.
• Information Gathering / Research – Quickly uncover what’s important, know
where to go and how to find information, able to assess a broad selection of ideas.
• Numeracy / Economic / Monetary – Mathematical solutions, data processing,
interpret/produce/explain statistics.
• People / Groups / Teamwork – Communication, empathy, dealing with others,
open both to debate and collaborate.
• Customer Service – Helping others, calm under pressure, public facing, listening to
others.
• Management / Past Responsibility – Delegate, set up projects, deal with
difficult situations.
• Communication / Verbal / Explanation – Discuss clearly, deal with wide range
of people, put concepts across competently.

4. Further skills that would be an advantage.
• Perseverance and motivation
• Ability to work under pressure.
• Negotiation and persuasion.
• Commercial awareness
• Enthusiastic
• A will to succeed .
• Drive and determination.

5. Competency and Qualities Framework
• The CQF competencies describe behaviours that the Prison Service
encourages amongst its staff. It is designed to enable Employers at Senior
Manager A and below-and their managers-to know what is expected of them
in terms of clear and observable indicators of behaviour that apply across
most situations they are likely to face. It does not describe what has to be
done.
• Working Professionally.
• Achieving a safe and secure environment.
• Showing resilience
• Acting with integrity.
• Respecting others.

6. Competency and Qualities framework
• Working With Others
• Persuading and influencing.
• Building relationships and team working.
• Communicating effectively.
• Caring.
• Working To Achieve Results
• Problem solving and decision making.
• Organising and maximising performance.
• Embracing change.
• Developing change

7. Prison Officer
• A lot of people think they know what life inside a
prison is like. They see portrayals on TV and in
films, and imagine these are a true reflection of
reality. Until you've worked in a prison, built
trust, exercised authority without throwing your
weight around, and ultimately changed people's
lives for the better, you've no real idea what a
difference prison life can make to offenders,
society and to you.

8. Prison Officer Tasks
• These are some of the tasks you will be expected to carry out as a
Prison Officer:
• To carry out security duties as required, contributing effectively to
the safe and secure custody of Prisoners.
• Ensure that all incidents are reported and dealt with effectively,
including bullying, assaults, substance misuse and self harm.
• Prepare reports as required in a timely manner.
• Follow set procedures for dealing with Prisoner applications.
• Encourage Prisoners to deal with personal challenges through
offending behavior programmes.
• Complete searching in adherence to local and national policy
Encourage Prisoners to follow regime activities.
• Comply with audit requirements

9. Prison Officer Tasks
• Upholding respect for Prisoners, their property, rights and dignity.
• Apply authorised control and restraint procedures where
appropriate.
• Ensure Control and Restraint training (C & R) is completed each
year as required.
• Complete observation book entries.
• Monitor vulnerable Prisoners appropriately.
• Act as Personal Officer to a group of Prisoners.
• Ensure standards of hygiene and cleanliness are maintained.
• Ensure Suicide and Self Harm processes are complied with.
• Ensure information system for Prisoners is effective.
• Contribute to own development through the Staff Performance &
Development Record.
• Ensure all work is carried out to a high professional standard

10. Prison Officer Attendance
• As a prison officer you will be expected to work a
variety of shifts, including nights, weekends and
some long days. Normal weekly working hours
average 37 hours over the shift cycle. New
Prison Officers will have the opportunity to work
up to four additional hours on an ongoing basis
at an enhanced rate of pay.

11. Prison Officer Rank
• Band 3 Officer.
• Band 4 Supervising Officer
• Band 5 Custodial Manager.
• Progression to Governor Grade is by written
examination and Job simulation.

12. Prison Service Governor Grade
NOMS Graduate Programme
The NOMS graduate programme offers you the chance to make a difference to society,
rather than just the bottom line. In just three years, you'll develop the leadership qualities
and operational expertise to manage one of the most complex and challenging
environments around a HMPS prison.
From graduate to prison officer
You'll start with six weeks of training at our national training centre in Rugby. As well as
learning about prison service values and responsibilities, you'll develop the skills you
need for your first role on the programme: Prison Officer.
These include using handcuffs, basic control and restraint techniques and how to carry
out searches. Your last week of training will be spent shadowing an officer in the prison
where you'll first be posted; then you'll take on the role yourself.

13. Prison Service Governor Grade
Developing into an effective manager
Over the next 12 to 18 months, you'll gain further experience and responsibility,
as you progress from Prison Officer to Supervisor Officer level. You will then
move to a different prison and take up the role of Custodial Manager, with a
group of staff to manager and finally you will move into a middle-management
governor-grade role as an Operational Manager. Here you'll head up an entire
area of a prison, such as Residence, where you'll take on responsibilities that
include preventing suicide and self-harm and managing all the prisoners' living
facilities.
What happens at the end of the programme?
When you have completed your programme, usually after two to three years,
you can apply for a managerial post. You'll then have a number of career paths
open to you.

14. Prison Governor Grade
The work
• As a prison Governor you could work in establishments
ranging from high security prisons holding category A
prisoners to open prisons for category D prisoners.
• Larger prisons can have several governors on different
grades .Your duties would vary according to the size and
type of prison, but are likely to include.
• Supervising security
• Making inspections
• Carrying out disciplinary procedures
• Writing reports

15. Prison Governor Grade
• Managing the prison budget and other resources
• Overseeing the development of the prison to meet
governments targets on ,for example prisoners welfare.
• Working with other professionals ,such as medical staff,
and providers of others services such as Substance
Misuse Services'

16. Prison Governor Grade
Hours
• Your hours of work can be long, and include
evenings and weekends. There may be some
opportunities for part-time hours.
• Prisons are found all over the country in towns
and the countryside. As a governor you could be
posted to any establishment in the country.
• You are likely to do some travelling to attend
meetings, courses and conferences outside the
prison.

17. Prison Governor Grade
Entry requirements
• In general, to apply to the prison service you need:
• To be between age 18 and 62 in England and Wales
• To be a British or Commonwealth citizen, British
Protected Person, or EU national (there are exceptions)
with indefinite leave to remain – for some posts you need
to have lived in the UK for three years
• To declare any convictions.
• You will also have medical, eyesight and fitness tests, for
details check the Ministry of Justice website.

18. Graduate Scheme
These are demanding roles and so you won’t be surprised to find out that the
recruitment process we expect you to go through will be quite demanding at
times, although most of our candidates tell us that they find the experience
quite enjoyable and often learn a lot about themselves as they go through.
The process looks like this:
•Short application form with personal details and security questions
•On-line Situational Judgment Tool
•On-line Numerical Reasoning Test
•Job Simulation Assessment Centre
•Written assessment and interview
•Medical and fitness test
•Security Clearance
•We do get a lot of candidates applying each year, and at each stage we do
have to reduce our numbers significantly, so you will need to be successful at
every stage before we can consider offering you a place on the programme.

19. Graduate Scheme
• Whether you're a recent graduate or an experienced people
manager, there are certain personality traits that will set you out as a
potential prison leader. These include:
• Resilience
• Integrity
• The ability to get through to people from all walks of life
• Decisiveness, even under intense pressure
• The ability to stay calm in emotionally charged situations
• Someone who loves being set and beating targets
• On top of that you'll need to be the sort of person who can bounce
back if things go wrong. You'll also need to be adaptable, as you'll
be dealing with some pretty unpredictable people day in, day out.
And it's important that you believe in the benefits of rehabilitation.

20. Conclusion.
• My Career.
• Ministry of Justice and Noms website for all information
and applications .
• www.justice.gov.uk/jobs
What has the Prison Service got to offer –click
Becoming a Prison Officer or Noms Graduate programme –
click.
• Not recruiting at this time for Prison Officers.
• The graduate scheme will commence recruiting in
October of 2014 .