HC Deb 19 July 1984 vol 64 c495
2. Dr. Twinn

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what resources have been committed to the Government's accelerated programme of prison building and refurbishment.

The Secretary of State for the Home Department (Mr. Leon Brittan)

We are currently planning to build 14 new prisons at an overall cost of about £246 million. In addition, we are spending almost £72 million this year on repair and redevelopment of the existing prison estate.

Dr. Twinn

I welcome my right hon. and learned Friend's commitment to resources to the prison programme. Will he comment on how that commitment will help the problem of prison overcrowding?

Mr. Brittan

Fourteen new prisons will provide about 6,600 new places, and, in addition, some 4,000 new places will be provided at existing establishments. The effect of that, on present trends, is that we should eliminate prison overcrowding by the end of the decade.

Mr. Meadowcroft

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman agree that even when a prison extension is urgently needed, as at Leeds prison, it is hardly the most popular development in any neighbourhood? Might it not be a good idea to be generous to those whose homes will be demolished by such extensions, by giving them some compensation for the disturbance?

Mr. Brittan

I am sure that it is right that proper compensation should be made. However, I think that there is an increasing understanding that arrangements can be made for building prisons in a way that does no harm to the local community. After all, prisons meet an important social need.

Mr. Chapman

Has my right hon. and learned Friend estimated the resources wasted during new prison and extension building as a result of design changes being made after construction has commenced? That causes a significant increase in contract prices. With good management, those changes should be sorted out before construction begins.

Mr. Brittan

I have not made any such estimate, but if my hon. Friend has an example of where excessive cost has been caused as a result of what he has described, I should naturally want to look into it very carefully.

Mr. Jun Callaghan

Do the Government intend to implement the proposals of the past and present Select Committees on Education, Science and Arts in connection with prison education and improving the resources, buildings and refurbishments available to prisons?

Mr. Brittan

On that score, I have nothing to add to what my right hon. Friend the Minister of State said in the debate earlier this month.