§ Mr. George HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what has been the average assault rate since October 1995 in all privately operated prisons and their Prison Service operated comparator group establishments.[25195]
§ Miss WiddecombeResponsibility 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 Richard Tilt to Mr. George Howarth, dated 23 April 1996:
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question asking for the average assault rate since October 1995 in all privately operated prisons and their Prison Service operated comparator group establishmentsA report has been commissioned from consultants Coopers and Lybrand to assess the relative costs and performance of contractually managed prisons against comparable establishments in the public sector during 1994/5. This report will be published in the next few weeks.I will write to the Honourable Member following publication of the Coopers and Lybrand report with information on the period mentioned in his question.