Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 12
15th Report - Prison estate capacity
Published 14 Mar 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee Prison estate capacity All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
HMPPS explained that the collapse of ISG, one of its main contractors which entered administration in September 2024, had been challenging, but that expected delays were already factored into its revised timelines.37 However, it noted that this was based on its assumptions about potential delays. It told us that ISG was contracted to deliver around 3,500 places of the 20,000 places portfolio across 13 projects and that it was in the process of 29 Ministry of Justice, 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, December 2024, page 3 30 Ministry of Justice, 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, December 2024, page 7 31 Ministry of Justice, 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy, December 2024, page 2 32 Q 29 33 Q 29 34 Q 32 35 Q 29 36 Qq 55–60 37 Q 43 11 retendering contracts as quickly as possible.38 It explained that while the collapse had affected its expansion plans, it was more exposed in terms of ongoing maintenance projects that ISG had been delivering.39 Future prison capacity
From: Public Accounts Committee, 15th Report - Prison estate capacity (HC 366), 14 March 2025
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 16 May 2025.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on prison capacity, disagrees with two, and reports several as implemented in April 2025.
- On lessons learned, HMPPS is "committed to reviewing" its Lessons Learned Strategy and Log on a minimum bi-annual basis, with the next review point in October 2025.
- It disagrees with the recommendation for a business case on the maintenance backlog, stating that future investment decisions and business cases "will depend on the outcome of the ongoing Spending Review round".
- It disagrees with the recommendation on evaluating the impact of capacity pressures on risk assessments for new prisoners, stating "it is not possible to evaluate the impact" but that HMPPS will continue to monitor their completeness.
- It agrees to update the Committee within two months of the Sentencing Review's next phase on the forecast prison place shortage, the maintenance backlog and fire safety.