Prisons

HC Deb 06 May 2004 vol 420 cc1701-2W

Mr. Dismore

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how value for money will be shown to have been achieved if in-house bids for the running of

£
	1997–98	1998–99	1999–2000	2000–01	2001–02	2002–03
Altcourse	1—	29,962,583	33,113,688	35,036,594	35,261,148	32,154,593
Ashfield	—	—	1—	15,834,762	14,426,845	9,820,999
Dovegate	—	—	—	—	1—	24,511,442
Forest Bank	—	—	1—	22,480,153	22,040,504	20,821,813
Lowdham
Grange	1—	15,942,120	15,450,822	15,975,509	14,893,288	13,159,649
Parc	1—	27,888,480	29,766,258	31,676,362	32,386,551	31,322,995
Rye Hill	—	—	—	1—	15,344,851	14,103,266
1Represent the year in which the prison opened. Part years are excluded from the accounts.

Mr. Gerrard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the construction costs were for each prison built under the Private Finance Initiative. [167361]

Paul Goggins

The construction costs for each prison built under the Private Finance Initiative, derived from the original financial model on which payment to the contractor is based, are:

£million
Altcourse	68
Ashfield	26
Dovegate	64
Forest Bank	45
Lowdham Grange	25
Parc	47
Rye Hill	37

Mr. Gerrard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what estimate he has made of the saving that has been made by the Prison Service through building prisons through the Private Finance Initiative compared to alternative methods of financing such construction; and if he will make a statement. [167362]

Paul Goggins

Savings achieved through the Private Finance Initiative (PFI) in respect of prisons are calculated on the basis of comparing the total cost of the contract, including construction, finance and operating existing establishments are not permitted under the current performance testing programme in the Prison Service. [168398]

Paul Goggins

The public sector are given the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to provide a value for money service in their proposals for improvement. Only if they failed to do so, or if they subsequently failed to deliver the necessary improvements, would the management of the prison be put to tender to the private sector only. As is the case in all competitions for the management of prisons, the bid which offered the best combination of cost and quality of service would be selected.

Mr. Gerrard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the total cost was to the Prison Service for each prison constructed under the Private Finance Initiative in each year of operation. [167360]

Paul Goggins

The requested information, extrapolated from Prison Service Annual Reports and Accounts, is shown in the table for the years up to 2002–03. The final outturn for 2004–05 will be available shortly.

costs, against the public sector comparator. On that basis, the PFI process has delivered savings in the range of 10 per cent. to 15 per cent. compared with conventional procurement.

Mr. Gerrard

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department when the most recent assessment was made of the cost of a privately built, publicly run prison; what the outcome was; and if he will make a statement. [167364]

Paul Goggins

The latest assessments of a privately built, publicly run prison were the public sector comparators (PSCs) used in evaluating the bids for the contracts for Bonzefield and Peterborough prisons. The PSC for Bronzefield was 11 per cent. higher and the PSC for Peterborough 8.2 per cent. higher than the Net Present Values of the winning bids.