§ Baroness Massey of Darwenasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have for identifying and improving poorly performing prisons. [HL2133]
§ Lord RookerOn 12 January my right honourable friend the then Minister of State at the Home Office announced the intention to develop a performance testing scheme under which poorly performing prisons would be identified and required to develop a plan for improvement within a fixed period; if the plan was acceptable, the prison would operate under a service level agreement, with strict monitoring of delivery 53WA against its proposals; if unacceptable, the prison would face closure or contracting out to the private sector.
The director general has selected two establishments, Her Majesty's Prison Leicester and Her Majesty's Young Offender Institution and Remand Centre Reading, for performance testing. They will be given six months to produce proposals for a much improved level of service.