§ Mr. HopkinsTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the resources available to the Prison Service. [10940]
§ Mr. BeithTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what are his plans for budgetary adjustments within the Prison Service to reflect the forecast rise in the prison population in each of the next three years. [10098]
§ Mr. StrawIn order to ensure that the Prison Service can accommodate the projected numbers safely, it will be able to spend up to an extra £43 million during this year and next. This will create 290 new places on top of the existing building programme, and provide additional staffing and funding for regime activities to support the placing of an additional 1,830 prisoners in existing accommodation, 630 of whom are already being detained.
I will tomorrow place in the Library a report of the findings of the audit of Prison Service resources which has been carried out in accordance with our manifesto.