HC Deb 29 March 1996 vol 274 cc793-4W
Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the specific areas where Buckley Hall prison has performed to a higher standard than other male category C training prisons since it opened. [21890]

Miss Widdecombe

[holding answer 21 March 1996]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange a reply to be given.

Letter from Richard Tilt to Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 March 1996:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about specific areas where Buckley Hall prison has performed to a standard higher than other male category C training prisons since it opened.

As Buckley Hall prison has not been fully operational very long it is not possible to make too many direct comparisons.

Buckley Hall is, however, currently above the average on time out of cell, and hours of purposeful activity. They also recorded a lower than average rate of assaults on staff for the first two months of this year.

The prison is also performing to a high standard in tackling offending behaviour, incentives relating to prisoner behaviour, and pre-release work.

Ms Lynne

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the key performance indicators as stipulated in the contract awarded to Group 4 for the running of Buckley Hall prison; and if he will publish the statistics in respect of which performance indicators have been met since the prison opened. [23338]

Miss Widdecombe

[holding answer 28 March 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 Ms Liz Lynne, dated 29 March 1996:

The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about key performance indicators as stipulated in the contract awarded to Group 4 for the running of Buckley Hall prison.

Under the contract awarded to Group 4 for the management of Buckley Hall prison the contractor's performance is assessed against 120 criteria. I have arranged for a copy of the performance system to be placed in the Library.

Performance is measured over periods of 12 months, with the first performance year running from 14 December 1994. The Prison Service and Group 4 are currently reviewing performance for this period against the criteria and I will write to the hon. Member when that work has been completed.

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