§ Mr. ColemanTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans his Department has for Her Majesty's Prison, Aldington; and if he will make a statement. [89306]
§ Mr. StrawFollowing a review of the projected future requirements of both the Prison Service and the Immigration Service, it has been agreed that Her Majesty's Prison, Aldington should be closed by the end of August 1999 and the site handed over to the Immigration Service to pursue its development as an Immigration detention centre.
Our plans are to redevelop the site under a form of private finance to provide at least 300 detention places with sufficient flexibility to accommodate males, females and families in a safe and secure environment by the spring of 2002. The opening of the Aldington site by the Immigration Service will enable detainees held in prisons elsewhere in the south to be placed in conditions better suited to their status and needs. It will also free much needed spaces in local prisons.
The Prison Service plans to redeploy the staff of the prison elsewhere within the Service. No compulsory redundancies of "mobile" grades are envisaged as a result of the closure of Aldington. Every effort will also be made to avoid redundancies for "non-mobile" grades. In addition to the employment opportunities arising from the construction of a new centre, we estimate that around 150 new jobs will be created once the facility is opened.