§ Mr. GibbTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what estimate he has made of the total operational capacity of prisons in England and Wales by 2006, based on current trends; [101211]
(2) what extra capacity the new prisons at Ashford and Peterborough will provide the Prison Service by 2006; and if he will make a statement; [101210]
(3) if he will make a statement on the Prison Service's Operation Container initiative. [101217]
§ Hilary BennOperation Container was the name given to the arrangements by which Prison Service prisoners were held in police cells in the early 1990s. Operation Container is no longer in force and the Prison Service now operates the holding of Prison Service prisoners in police cells under the name Operation Safeguard. Operation Safeguard was last activated between 12 July and 20 December 2002 and at present no Prison Service prisoners are held in police cells.
The two new prisons at Ashford and Peterborough will together provide 1,290 places by 2004–05. It is planned that the prison at Ashford will accommodate 450 females and the prison at Peterborough is planned to have 840 places in total: of these, 480 will be for males and 360 for females.
Current projections for the Prison Service anticipate a total useable operational capacity of 77,500 by 2006. This is an average figure, which is used for the purpose of planning the Prison Service estate. The Prison Service continues to investigate options for providing further increases in capacity over the coming years, as part of the Government's prison modernisation strategy. This is based on a combination of expanding capacity in existing prisons that we want to keep in the long term, and a programme to build new concept large multifunctional prisons.
The work of the Correctional Services Review is looking at what measures can be taken in the short term to reduce the prison population. We are committed to managing any rise in prison population through the provision of additional capacity and reform to the Criminal Justice system.
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§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the performance of Premier Custodial Group Limited in its provision of private prisons. [101433]
§ Hilary Benn[holding answer 10 March 2003]: The management of Ashfield young offender institution was handed back from the Prison Service to Premier Prison Services Ltd. on 14 October 2002. Since then the performance of the establishment has been unsatisfactory and a rectification notice has been issued requiring Premier to rectify failures to comply with contractual requirements. Premier's programme of rectification is currently being audited.
The performance of Premier at its other three establishments Doncaster prison and young offender institution, Dovegate and Lowdham Grange prisons has been generally satisfactory.
§ Mr. StreeterTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what assessment he has made of the(a) quality and (b) standards of performance of (i) private sector and (ii) public sector prisons. [101434]
§ Hilary Benn[holding answer 10 March 2003]: Private sector prisons are subject to the same assessments of their performance as that of public sector. These assessments include the following: inspections by Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons; annual reports by the Independent Monitoring Boards (formerly Board of Visitors) of each prison; and regular audits made by the Prison Service on each prison in terms of compliance with Prison Service performance Targets and Standards.
The Prison Service is looking to further develop its existing performance management framework as part of a performance improvement programme that will build on the success of Performance Testing. Consultations are underway and an announcement will be made shortly.