Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 2
2
Acknowledged
Require MoJ and HMPPS to set out detailed Dartmoor remediation plans and costs.
Recommendation
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.
Government Response Summary
The government agrees that a decision on remediating Dartmoor has been made. However, the response is truncated and does not explicitly commit to providing the detailed assessment, cost estimates, or value-for-money analysis to the Committee as requested.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
The government disagrees with the Committees recommendation. However, the government agrees with the principles behind the Committee’s recommendation that cost recovery should be a conscious and transparent choice but considers improvements can be better achieved by other means. The Treasury will update the Financial Reporting Manual (FReM) to align to 6.11 of Managing Public Money (MPM) to include clearer reporting guidance for fee-charging public bodies to ensure more effective Parliamentary scrutiny and rather than an annual cycle will embed oversight through the Spending Review (SR) returns to ensure departments consider the appropriate subsidies and fees which will now occur every two years.