§ Mr. SpellarTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the final cost of rebuilding Strangeways prison. [10030]
§ 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. John Spellar, dated 29 January 1996
The Home Secretary has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the final cost of rebuilding Strangeways prison.The costs of rebuilding Manchester prison are given in the report by the Comptroller and Auditor General which was ordered by the House of Commons to be printed on 14 July 1994. The project was completed in September 1993 at a cost of £89 million.This overall cost included £1.8 million which was spent on temporary housing arrangements for prisoners in K-wing which was required because of the high number of prisoners in police cells at that time.After the completion of the main project, further work was carried out to bring K-wing and its perimeter up to modern standards in terms 'of security, control and sanitation at a cost of £5.6 million.The overall cost of rebuilding the prison was therefore around £95 million.