Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
59th Report - Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025
Published 7 Jan 2026
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025 All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Recommendation (the committee's words)
Despite closing the prison in August 2024, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and HMPPS still do not have clear plans for the future of Dartmoor. MoJ previously assured us that its aim was to remediate HMP Dartmoor and bring it back into safe use. However, over a year since HMPPS closed the prison, MoJ and HMPPS still do not have clear plans for how and when they will do this, and are less certain that reopening the site will represent the best value for money. HMPPS is waiting for the outcome of a Health and Safety Executive review of current workplace regulations on radon 3 before it assesses what work it would need to do to the site and by when. Once the review is complete, MoJ and HMPPS plan to base their decision about whether or not to reopen on whether continuing with the works represents the best value for money for taxpayers. recommendation Once it has decided on its proposed approach to remediating the Dartmoor site, the Ministry of Justice and HM Prison and Probation Service should write to the Committee and set out in detail: • its assessment of any proposed works against the Accounting Officer tests of regularity, propriety, feasibility and value for money; • its estimate of when the prison will be fit for use and how much the remediation will cost. • that it will continue to assess whether best value for money is served by continuing to spend money on an unoccupied prison or try to negotiate an early exit from the lease by carrying out a full commercial negotiation with proper professional advice.
From: Public Accounts Committee, 59th Report - Ministry of Justice follow-up: Autumn 2025 (HC 1240), 7 January 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 1 April 2026 (deadline 7 March 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government states that it "agrees with the Committee's recommendation" on each of the recommendations in the response, reporting some as implemented and giving target dates for others.
- On Dartmoor, HMPPS has reviewed its handling of the lease negotiations and identified areas of learning. MoJ and HMPPS will write to the Committee "once the proposed approach to remediating Dartmoor has been decided", with a target date of June 2026.
- On access to legal aid for the digitally excluded, an Ipsos civil demand feasibility study will report by the end of March 2026. The department will report back to the Committee on progress in October 2026.
- On market sustainability, the department will "explore options to routinely monitor the profitability of legal aid firms" and update the Committee in October 2026. Any future policy decisions will be "in the context of the department's spending review settlement".
- On the cyberattack, MoJ and LAA say lessons have already been shared across government. MoJ states that it "has allocated funding to the transformation of LAA systems over the 2026-2029 period".