HC Deb 30 January 2003 vol 398 cc1042-3W
Mr. David Marshall

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to increase the number of available prison places; and if he will make a statement. [94063]

Hilary Benn

In England and Wales, £60 million has already been made available to provide 740 additional places by March 2004. This is in addition to funding from the 2002 Budget that will provide 2,320 additional places by March of this year, together with 400 places at Birmingham prison, which are funded through the 2000 spending review and are scheduled to open in April 2004.

We have also recently approved Prison Service plans to build two new prisons at Ashford (near Heathrow) and Peterborough in Cambridgeshire. These two new prisons will together provide around 1, 300 places by 2004–05. In addition, a further £140 million has been agreed for the Prison Service, which will be used to build a further 800 places over the financial years 2004–05 and 2005–06.

Information on establishments in Scotland and Northern Ireland is a matter for the Scottish Executive and the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland respectively.