Question
I will push back gently on the Minister’s assertion of 3,300 new prison places, knowing full well that they were all approved under the previous Conservative Government. Across the adult male prison population, there are 3,669 places out of service due to everything from lack of fire safety measures to infestations of bedbugs and rodents. What are the Government doing to expedite the renewal of those prison places, some of which are out of service until as far out as 2034, given that prisoners are being released, including some today?
Answer
The hon. Gentleman is brave to highlight the record that his Government left, which is a backlog of repairs and a shortage of places. That is why we are working on delivering the largest prison expansion programme since the Victorian era. We are bringing forward £110 million of existing budgets so that we can deliver additional places faster. We are working to repair the perilous state in which the previous Government left some of our prison estate, and ensuring that we manage offenders in the community through an increased Probation Service, which the Conservatives also decimated.50% point-scoring
Verdict: AMBER (60/100)
The reply responds to the question about speeding up prison places. It points to a concrete step, bringing forward £110 million of existing budgets to deliver additional places faster, and to repairing the prison estate. It does not give the 2034 timeline or say anything specific about the out-of-service places, so someone who asked for those details would likely need to ask again.
How we got there
| Question item | Coverage | Specificity | Rationale |
|---|---|---|---|
| What is the Government doing to expedite the renewal of the adult male prison places currently out of service, some of which are not expected to be back in use until 2034? | Addressed | Direct | Statement 3 names a concrete mechanism aimed at speeding up delivery (bringing forward £110 million of existing budgets to deliver additional places faster), and statement 4 addresses repairing the prison estate left in a perilous state, which bears on the out-of-service places. Statement 2 supplies the wider expansion context, though the reply never mentions the 2034 timeline or the specific out-of-service places. |