§ Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much of the £70 million allocated for new places in the prison high security estate announced in September 2000 has been spent. [10588]
§ Beverley HughesThe £70 million allocated for new places in the Prison Service High Security estate announced in September 2000 provides funding for the development of new services for those who are dangerous and severely personality disordered (DSPD) over three years. It includes resources for capital costs, for the construction of new units, running costs and support for the development of new approaches to assessment and treatment. These are complex schemes involving major innovation both in design and in the approach to service delivery.
The initial capital allocation in 2001–02 was £9 million to fund three refurbished units at Whitemoor Prison (and replacement of prison places lost as a result) and the beginning of construction of a new build unit at Frankland Prison. The work at Whitemoor Prison is complete and has incurred a total capital cost of £230,000 together with £4.27 million allocated to the Prison Service for replacement of lost prison places.
Work at Frankland Prison has been slightly delayed by adverse ground conditions but is projected to incur capital costs of £1 million this year to open on schedule in 2003. In 2001–02, £11 million was allocated for running costs and service development work. This was necessarily a rough projection of likely costs because of the ground breaking nature of this work. At this stage we project spending of £5.2 million (with £766,584 spent to date). Any underspend is being reallocated to other key Home Office priorities.