Recommendation 25

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, HMPPS expected demand for prison places to rise because of the government’s August 2019 announcement to recruit an additional 20,000 police officers. The NAO reported that HMPPS could need new prisons to be ready from late 2022 to avoid demand outstripping supply.55 We asked whether the new prisons would be available soon enough to meet this demand. The Ministry told us that its aim was to bring the new prisons into use in time to avoid this situation. It explained the first two these prisons, at Glen Parva and Wellingborough, were already being built, and that it had contingency plans if demand for prisons places rose faster than expected.56 50 C&AG’s report, paras 6, 1.9, Figure 4 51 Q 42 52 Qq 38–39, C&AG’s report para 1.10 53 IPE0005 - Improving the prison estate, Dr Matthew Cracknell, Middlesex University, London, 1 July 202 54 Qq 38–39, 42 55 Q 74, C&AG’s report para 1.11, Figure 5 56 Qq 42, 74 Improving the prison estate 17 The impact of COVID-19