HC Deb 10 June 1993 vol 226 cc294-5W
Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the expected publication date of the report of the prison service investigation into the American prison firm CCA.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated June 1993: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about publication of the report of our investigation into CCA. Following various allegations about CCA in the media, the Prisons Board decided that one of its non-executive members, Mr. Bill Bentley, should visit the United States and investigate the background to these allegations. The results of Mr. Bentley's inquiries have been presented to the Board; in brief, he concludes that he was unable to find any evidence which would have affected the decision to award the contract from Blakenhurst Prison to UKDS, the consortium which includes CCA. This conclusion has been accepted by Mr. Peter Lloyd, the Prisons Minister, who has written to Sir Ivan Lawrence reporting the outcome of the inquiry. A copy of that letter has been placed in the Library of the House. Beyond that, we have no plans to publish a report on Mr. Bentley's investigation.

Mr. Hoyle

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will delay the opening of Blakenhurst prison pending the outcome of the prison service investigation into CCA.

Mr. Peter Lloyd

Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the director general of the prison service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.

Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated June 1993: The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the opening of Blakenhurst Prison. Our initial review concluded that no information about CCA had come to light which would have affected our decision to award the contract to the UKDS, the consortium which includes CCA. The opening of Blakenhurst Prison therefore went ahead as scheduled, with the first inmates arriving on 26 May.