§ Miss WiddecombeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on the Government's prisons policy. [122001]
§ Mr. StrawIt is the Government's policy that the Prison Service should contribute to the wider aims of the criminal justice system by: protecting the public by holding those committed by the courts in a safe, decent and healthy environment; and reducing crime by providing constructive regimes which address offending behaviour, improve educational and work skills and promote law abiding behaviour in custody and after release.
The Prison Service's priorities for 2000–01 are therefore to maintain security and prevent escapes, to deliver improved regimes, including joint approaches with the Probation Service and to manage the prison population safely. The Service is working to improve healthcare, to build a partnership with the Youth Justice Board, to increase prison capacity and to modernise the Service, which includes improving race relations and information technology.
§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will commission a full independent evaluation of the methodology of, and conclusions arrived at, in the Comparative Costs of and Performance of Privately and Publicly Operated Prisons 1998–99; what plans he has to issue a qualification of the conclusions arrived at; and if he will make a statement. [121467]
§ Mr. BoatengThe current methodology was developed by Coopers and Lybrand in 1994–95 and has been updated in subsequent years by Home Office staff. The 1998–99 results show that privately managed prisons cost on average 0 per cent. to 13 per cent. less than comparable publicly managed prisons. The present methodology does not cover prisons which have also been designed, constructed, managed and financed by the private sector (DCMF prisons), three of which have now been fully operational for a year. The Prison Service is therefore commissioning independent consultants to develop a revised methodology which will include DCMF prisons, and an invitation to tender will be issued shortly.