§ Mr. AllenTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, pursuant to his reply of 9 July, on what criteria Nottingham was eliminated from the shortlist of potential locations for the headquarters of the prison service.
§ Mr. MellorFollowing an assessment by consultants Nottingham was one of the six cities which were identified as meriting further consideration for the location of prison service headquarters, subject to the availability of suitable sites. Until a firm decision is taken to proceed at a specific location all options remain open, but work is currently focused on Birmingham, Coventry and Derby which contain the most promising of the available sites. The relocation of a large number of Inland Revenue staff to a particularly favourable site in the centre of Nottingham over the next two to three years and the lack of a comparable site for the prison service are the two main reasons why Nottingham is not currently one of the front-runners.