Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 18
18
Accepted
Ministry of Justice has not assessed additional costs incurred for urgent prison place delivery
Conclusion
We asked MoJ if it has assessed the costs of needing to deliver prison places so urgently, such as paying contractors more to take on a higher level of risk.62 MoJ said it had not and indicated this could be difficult to disaggregate. It conceded that needing to do things quickly will likely cost more, but it also pointed to other factors which have increased costs such as inflation, which it said had meant delays have been more costly as prices increased.63 HMPPS explained that in some cases it paid to accelerate the delivery of projects, for example one of its new houseblocks, Rye Hill, so that it could be delivered several months earlier.64 It has also paid £70 million to date to house prisoners in police cells under Operation Safeguard to provide additional one–night contingency in the system.65
Government Response Summary
The MoJ estimated costs to the Criminal Justice System through internal forecasting and modelling processes, including the additional costs as a result of the acute issues in responding to prison capacity. The MoJ will continue to monitor these costs and amend estimates where necessary.
Government Response
Accepted
HM Government
Accepted
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 4.2 As the Committee notes, there have been acute issues in responding to prison capacity which have also led to additional costs in the Criminal Justice System, including: the cost of running temporary demand measures to alleviate prison capacity; extra staffing resource for prisons and probation; delaying maintenance; the costs of running Operation Safeguard; and the cost to overcrowd cells. 4.3 As part of the Spending Review process, the MoJ estimated costs to the Criminal Justice System through internal forecasting and modelling processes, including the additional costs as a result of the acute issues in responding to prison capacity. The MoJ undertakes frequent modelling to be able to advise on future financial plans and strengthen longer term planning. The MoJ has used these estimations to provide a stronger basis for future investment negotiations with HMT as part of the Spending Review process. For the prison capacity programme specifically the MoJ released the 10-year capacity strategy on 11 December 2024 which publicly set out some of the cost estimates to complete the programme by 2031. The MoJ will continue to monitor these costs and amend estimates where necessary.