Prison Workshops and Farms

HC Deb 21 January 1988 vol 125 cc786-7W

41. Mr. Atkinson

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he has any plans to improve the profitability of prison workshops and farms; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Douglas Hogg

The implementation of a series of measures for the rationalisation of prison industries announced in March 1986, which included the setting of clear management targets by the prisons board, has reduced the cost of employing inmates in prison workshops and improved the value for money obtained from the resources invested in providing this type of activity for prisoners. Work to maintain these trends is continuing. Prison farms and gardens consistently operate at a modest profit.