E.12 Written and Oral Communication

Policy Standard

• Oral and written communication, internal and external to the prison is managed in a way which ensures a record of decisions and actions is maintained, that the style of communication complies with departmental and legislative requirements and the communication is useful to the recipient.

Performance Standards

1. Each prison has written procedures on how incoming, outgoing and internal mail, faxes and telephone calls, circulars and local publications are managed.
2. The style and content of oral and written communication complies with departmental and legislative requirements.
3. Correspondence is acknowledged as soon as practicable after receipt.
4. Any written and oral language used is non-sexist, culturally appropriate, and non-discriminatory.
5. Inquiries are responded to in a way which reflects the urgency of the request and wherever possible acknowledges the culture of the inquirer.
6. Written communications are free of spelling errors, grammatically correct, logically sequenced, written in plain language, and presented in a way which is appropriate to the target audience.
7. An accurate record is maintained of decisions made at meetings.
8. Staff are promptly, clearly and accurately informed of events in their organisation which affect their job tasks.
9. Each publication conforms to its editorial policy, is sequentially numbered, sourced, dated, authorised and catalogued, contains accurate, relevant, concise and timely information and is distributed to the people on its distribution list.
10. Confidential issues are managed in a way which ensures the integrity of the information is maintained.
11. Instructions to all Prison Managers are distributed through an updated PPM section. Advise of the update is via e-mail.
12. Information of interest to managers and staff is distributed through an approved issue of the Prisons Service “in house” magazine.
13. A copy of each publication or written communication is filed at the prison where it was written.