Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they continue to hold the view, as expressed to the House of Commons Justice Committee inquiry, Prisons: planning and policies, 9th report of 2014–15 (HC309), by the then Minister for Prisons, that a higher degree of capital investment is possible in the private sector than in the public sector; and if so, what the basis is for this assertion.
Answered on
12 April 2017
Since the publication of the “Prisons: planning and policies” report, the government has announced that we will invest £1.3bn to build up to 10,000 modern prison places.
We cannot expect to make any significant impact in safety and reform without upfront investment. We have a robust mechanism for making capital expenditure decisions which monitors investment against outcomes and benefits - our work in digitising prisons is subject to this process alongside all of our other work in the Prison Safety and Reform programme.