The project will focus on SPS’s complaints mechanism for people in custody only, although other complaints, communications and feedback channels exist for both people in prison, visitors, solicitors and staff. The project will focus on understanding how prisoner complaints are handled across different establishments within SPS. This includes all stages of complaints handling, including receipt, logging, investigation, resolution and feedback.   
 
The suggested methodology for the study is as follows: A proforma will be sent out to all prisons for completion by Business Improvement Managers before the internship commences.

In Month 1, the intern will: Review key internal data, reports and policy documents, analyse the proforma returns to tease out commonalities, differences and trends across establishments using a comparative analysis approach.

In Month 2, the intern will visit circa five establishments to conduct interviews with those in our care and staff to further understand the reasons for particular approaches, and the experience of those submitting and processing complaints.

In Month 3, the intern will complete the analysis and write their findings up. While the scoping survey will be conducted before the internship, in order to save time for the intern in the provision of initial data, the rest of the methodology can be revised and refined by the intern.   
 
The core output will be a report that summarises commonalities, differences and trends across establishments, and the reasons underpinning them, highlights best practice in approaches observed and provides recommendations to inform improvements for complaints management. A second output will be a 2-4 page policy brief-style note summarising the focus and findings of the internship assignment, including well-defined recommendations. A third output will be a presentation to key SPS staff summarising findings and recommendations.