§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will place in the Library a copy of the recent report by LEK consultants, comparing the costs of running private prisons with public sector prisons. [12765]
§ Miss Widdecombe[holding answer 30 January 1996]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 31 January 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the report by the LEK Partnership comparing the costs of running private prisons with public sector prisons.The study was carried out in 1994 and results presented to the Prison Service at the end of 1994. I cannot publish the study itself because it contains commercially confidential information. However, the attached table summarises the main findings.
The LEK Partnership's study used data from 1993–94 and is summarised in the table below Private prison Public comparator group Cost1 per CNA lower by (per cent.) Blakenhurst Bullingdon 14 Holme House Elmley Doncaster2 Bullingdon 14 Holme House Elmley Buckley Hall2 Everthorpe 26 Haverigg Ranby 1Cost is after adjustments to exclude non comparable costs from both the private sector bid prices and public sector costs. 2Results for Doncaster and Buckley Hall should be treated with caution because neither prison was open during the period the comparisons covered. 3The analysis excluded Wolds because in 1993–94 there was no comparable public sector remand prison.