§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the studies which have been commissioned by his Department to evaluate the performance of existing privately managed prisons indicating in each case the research body involved and the dates on which(a) each study was commissioned, (b) each study was commenced, (c) he expects to receive reports, and (d) he expects each report to be published; and if he will set out the cost of the studies in each case. [477]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility for this matter has been delegated to the temporary Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 22 November 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about studies commissioned to evaluate the performance of contractually-managed prisons.The only such study commissioned to date has been in respect of Wolds prison and was undertaken jointly by the Centre for Criminology and Criminal Justice at Hull University and the Institute of Criminology at the University of Cambridge. This was commissioned on 25 June 1992, and study commenced in July of that year. The research team's formal programme of fieldwork started in January 1993 and was extended to March 1994. The first draft version of the report was received in December 1994, and further revisions to the draft were submitted in April and July of 1995. It is anticipated that the report will be published shortly. The cost of the study was £120,772.