Wolds Prison (Hansard, 13 December 1996)

§ Miss Widdecombe

[holding answer 9 December 1996]: 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 A. J. Pearson to Mr. Alex Carlile, dated 13 December 1996: The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the renewal of the contract for the management of Wolds prison. The contract came into operation in April 1992 and, subject to satisfactory performance, is capable of renewal up to a maximum term of 14 years from that date. The initial five year term expires on 5 April 1997. In view of the Prison Service's satisfaction with the level of service provided and the result of negotiations about 405W terms for an extension, the contract with Group 4 Prison Services Ltd was extended on 31 October for a further 5 years from 6 April 1997. The price agreed is equivalent to a 7.3% reduction in the current annual cost to the Prison Service and the contract also incorporates a number of new features. As recommended by the Public Accounts Committee, a Performance Measurement System has been included in the contract. The system encourages an improvement in service levels throughout the next five years by providing more rigorous targets each year. Group 4 will incur fixed penalties if prisoners escape whilst in their custody. All risks relating to damage to buildings and plant at the prison (including malicious damage) will now be covered by commercial insurance taken out by Group 4 at their expense. Some of the existing contractual conditions have been clarified and re-drafted in light of past experience, including improvements in standard conditions achieved during negotiations for DCMF (Design, Construct, Manage and Finance) prison contracts. For example, the default procedure has been improved by greater clarity over the period available for the rectification of unsatisfactory performance. New and more flexible arrangements have been introduced to cope with population increases. Targets for regime activities have been updated including 30 hours work per convicted prisoner per week (compared with the national Prison Service target this year of 26.5 hours), whilst the daily time out of cell has been reduced from a target of 14 hours per day to 12 hours (compared with the national Prison Service target this year of "at least 60% of prisoners to be held in establishments which unlock prisoners for at least 10 hours per weekday"). Additional costs are transferred to Group 4 and will no longer be funded from other Prison Service Budgets. These include the provision of probation services and the funding of prisoners remuneration and discharge grants. A copy of the Contract has been placed in the House of Commons Library.

Table A: Immediate custodial sentences and average sentence lengths for indictable offences where there is an associated firearms offence¹ by type of court, 1989 to 1995
	Magistrates courts		Crown court
Year	Number	Average sentence length (months)	Life²	Other	Total	Average sentence length (months)³
1989	61	3.1	5	1,082	1,087	46.7
1990	36	3.7	4	1,090	1,094	47.0
1991	50	3.3	4	1,207	1,211	43.8
1992	48	3.3	5	1,320	1,325	47.3
1993	71	3.4	6	1,232	1,238	46.9
1994	93	3.9	3	1,338	1,341	45.8
1995	121	3.2	10	1,411	1,421	40.3
¹ The information tabulated is for the principal offence, where at least one of the offences dealt with at the final court appearance was for a firearms offence.
² Comparisons with other sources suggest that the figures for life sentences are particularly subject to under recording. For example, 123 persons were given a life sentence for homicide offences initially recorded in the years 1989 to 1995, where the method of killing was shooting.
³ Excludes lifers.