Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 8
Fifteenth Report - Improving the prison estate
Published 11 Sep 2020
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Improving the prison estate All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Poor conditions and crowding within the prison estate are in large part the result of historical under-investment in maintenance. HMPPS regularly has to take prison cells out of permanent use because of the state of disrepair. Between 2009–10 and 2019–20, HMPPS took 1,730 prison cells permanently out of use for failing to meet the required 9 Qq 6–8 10 Qq 53, 56 11 Q 112, C&AG’s report Appendix 1 12 C&AG’s report, para 1.17 13 Qq 95, 112 14 Q 32, C&AG’s report, para 5, 1.4–1.5 15 IPE0006 - Improving the prison estate, Professor Nicola Padfield (Professor of Criminal and Penal Justice at University of Cambridge), 1 July 2020; IPE0008 - Improving the prison estate, Transition to Adulthood Alliance, 1 July 2020; IPE0003 - Improving the prison estate, Prison Reform Trust, 1 July 2020 16 Q 29 Improving the prison estate 11 legislative and prison standards. The rate at which prison cells are lost has increased, with HMPPS taking 939 cells (54%) out of use in the last three years. Based on recent trends, HMPPS expected to lose a further 500 places annually owing to the scale of disrepair.17
From: Public Accounts Committee, Fifteenth Report - Improving the prison estate (HC 244), 11 September 2020
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 18 November 2020 (deadline 11 November 2020).
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 six recommendations, with target dates between December 2020 and April 2021.
- On a long-term prison estate strategy, the department will write to the Committee in January 2021, then "proposes to consult" in early 2021 before publishing a comprehensive strategy in summer 2021.
- On women's prisons, the department "accepts this recommendation" and will write in January 2021; the summer 2021 estate strategy "will include how it plans to improve conditions in the women's estate".
- On capacity, it will publish prison population projections "by the end of 2020" and, "By April 2021", provide an update on progress, including plans for expected use of temporary accommodation.
- On reducing reoffending, it has "committed to publishing an update on this work in due course" and to write to the Committee "before the end of 2020".