To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what his timeline is for delivering the 20,000 additional modern prison places announced by his Department on 18 February 2022.
Answered on
20 July 2023
So far c.5,400 places have been delivered. This includes two new c.1,700 place prisons, HMP Five Wells, which opened last year, and HMP Fosse Way, which accepted its first prisoners at the end of May. At least 6,400 prison places are anticipated to be delivered by the end of May 2024, rising to over 8,000 by the end of May 2025, including places already delivered to date. In addition to these places, we have extended the lease at HMP Dartmoor, maintaining 680 places from December 2023.
Our prison builds are complex capital projects, which are being delivered within challenging market conditions. Securing planning permission is a significant factor in timelines; we have submitted planning appeals following refusal of three applications for sites in Lancashire, Leicestershire, and Buckinghamshire and await decisions. Given the planning appeals are ongoing and subject to a recovered decision by DLUHC, it would not be appropriate to comment further. If planning is successful, these prisons would open as soon as possible to meet the pressing demand on prison places.
We will push for earlier delivery of places wherever possible, and we are continuing to press ahead with further options to delivery capacity across the estate.