Prison Building (Hansard, 25 January 1990)

§ 74. Mr. Barron
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the prison building programme.

§ 75. Mr. Redmond
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the prison building programme.

§ Mr. Mellor
The prison building programme continues to make good progress. Out of the full programme of 28 new prisons, eight have already opened and 14 are at various stages of planning and construction, leaving only six on which construction work has not yet started. Construction is, however, planned to begin on two of these in 1991–92 and 1992–93. Sites and planning permissions are being sought for the four remaining prisons, but decisions on when and where to start building them have been deferred pending further analysis of the lower projected prison population.
The changes in the projections have allowed the emphasis of the prison building programme to be changed from building new prisons to speeding up improvements to the existing estate. Essential health, safety and security measures are now being brought forward, while at the same time progress is being maintained on a wide range of refurbishment and redevelopment work already under way 877W at many establishments. Some of these developments involve virtually rebuilding older prisons which are in such excellent locations that they need to be preserved. Most important to the general quality of life in the older prisons, a substantial reduction in slopping out is a major part of the expanded programme.