HC Deb 17 July 1998 vol 316 cc341-2W
Mr. Beith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the percentage of the Prison Service estate which will be privately managed by the year 2002; and if he will make a statement. [50592]

Ms Quin

By March 2002, the certified normal accommodation of the prison estate is forecast to be 67,700. Of these places, it is expected that 6,600 will be privately managed. Therefore the percentage of the Prison Service estate forecast to be privately managed by 2002 is 9.7 per cent.

Alternatively, another way of measuring the percentage of the estate expected to be privately managed is to look at numbers of prisons rather than sum of places. Current plans are for 143 prisons to be operating in March 2002. Of these, it is expected that 11 will be privately managed. The percentage of the Prison Service estate expected to be privately managed in 2002 using this forecast is 7.7 per cent.

Mr. Beith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the basis on which financial penalties imposed on contractors of privately managed prisons are calculated; and if he will make a statement. [50587]

Ms Quin

There are three financial remedies available to the Prison Service as a result of a contractor's non-performance under a contract for a Design, Construct, Manage and Finance (DCMF) prison. Fees may be withheld under the following circumstances:

  1. i) if certain criteria for "available places" are not met. The criteria include levels of security, control of prisoners and physical requirements such as lighting and heating;
  2. ii) a "penalty points" system, where non-compliance with performance measures specified in the contract leads to an award of pre-determined penalty points; and
  3. iii) if the contractor holds more than a specified number of prisoners two to a cell.

For management only prisons (Blakenhurst, Buckley Hall, Doncaster and Wolds), reductions in payment may result from a performance measure procedure similar to the DCMF penalty points system, and as a result of deficiencies that fall outside the performance measures procedures.

Mr. Beith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the capital cost of each of the privately built prisons. [50586]

Ms Quin

The project costs for each of the privately built prisons are: Parc, £75m; Altcourse, £88m; Lowdham Grange, £32m; Pucklechurch, £36m; and Agecroft, £55m. The project costs include capital expenditure before the prison's opening and consist mainly of construction costs.

Mr. Beith

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the calculations of the relative costs of privately and publicly managed prisons take into account the cost of(a) capital repayments and (b) interest charges on such payments to the relevant private sector company. [50585]

Ms Quin

Yes. The capital repayments by the contractor for Design, Construct, Manage and Finance prisons and the interest accruing were included in the costs of these prisons when compared with their closest public sector comparators. There are no comparable costs in non Private Finance Initiative procurement since payment is not amortised over a contract period.