§ Ms RuddockTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what clauses exist in the present contract with Group 4 escort services to allow renegotiation of the contract; and what would be the additional cost of renegotiating the contract in line with the increased number of prisoner movements;
(2) what talks Group 4 has had with his escort duties; what projections were made about the number of prisoner movements by his Department as the basis for the contract with Group 4 escort services; what are the actual numbers of prisoner movements at the latest available date; and if he plans to amend the contract accordingly.
§ Mr. Peter LloydResponsibility 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 Ms Joan Ruddock, dated 10 June 1993.
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply directly to your two Parliamentary Questions about the contract for court escort services with Group 4 Services Ltd.The resources needed for the court escort service depend both on the numbers of prisoners to be escorted and on the distribution of their points of origin and their destination. These were measured in surveys carried out prior to the issue of invitations to tender and immediately prior to contract signature. The contract price was based on the findings of the latter survey.The contract recognises, however, that costs will vary with the requirement, and mechanisms exist to adjust the contract price in line with changes in requirement. Analysis of the present workload is underway in order to determine whether either the resource levels or the contract price, or both, need adjustment, and, if so by how much.