§ Mr. LawrenceTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the average time taken for building a prison from initial plans to completion.
§ Mr. Douglas HoggThe time between initial plans and completion varies so greatly that an average would be meaningless. The greatest variable is the time taken to obtain the necessary planning clearance, which can be anything from three months to two or three years. In the past, design has also taken up to three years and preparing the prison for use on completion, that is, commissioning, has taken up to one year. Taken with the average period of construction, which has been at least three years, this has meant that the minimum period between initial plans and completion has been about seven years.
We have made substantial improvements. The use of repeat designs at six prisons has reduced the design period by at least two years and should reduce the construction period by at least six months. The commissioning period has also been reduced to three months, so that, subject to planning clearance and the ability of the construction industry to keep to agreed contract times, a new prison can now be provided in about three and a half years from initial planning to completion. In addition, a new design brief for prisons will shortly be published which will form the basis for all future new prisons, greatly reducing both the time and cost of design in each case.