§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the number of prison places required within the prison Service in England and Wales over the next five years. [114994]
§ Mr. BoatengThe estimate of the number of prison places required over the next five years is determined by the latest prison population projections, which were published on 10 February in Home Office Statistical Bulletin No. 2/00, "Projections of Long Term Trends in the Prison Population to 2007", a copy of which is available in the Library and a summary of which is available on the Home Office website http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/ index.htm. The projection provides three variants. The projected average prison population for each of the next five years for the central variant is given in the table.
Under existing plans, the Prison Service will increase planned operational capacity from an average of 67,800 in 1998–99 to 71,400 in 2001–02—the third year of the Comprehensive Spending Review settlement. The number of places to be provided after 2001–02 will be determined as part of the next spending review.
Prison population projections for 1999–2000 to 2004–05 Year Central variant 1999–2000 65,300 2000–01 68,100 2001–02 70,100 2002–03 70,800 2003–04 71,300 2004–05 71,900