Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 20
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 told us that operating at 99% occupancy creates inefficiencies in the estate and wider justice system. For example, it explained that prisoners often arrive in the wrong part of the estate or wrong part of the country. This means that prisoners often arrive late at night and it also impacts HMPPS’s ability to get them to court on time the next day. It explained that this has a knock–on effect on the Crown Court backlog.68 HMPPS told us that 62 Q 38 63 Qq 38–40 64 Q 40 65 Q 92 66 C&AG’s Report, para 2.14 67 Qq 125–129 68 Q 66 14 reception prisons are under particular pressure, and the remand population was at a record high of 17,711 in August 2024. HMPPS explained that the increasing proportion of prisoners on remand makes it more difficult for HMPPS to use its estate most efficiently, as prisoners on remand need to stay near to the local court where their case will be heard.69 High occupancy levels also reduce HMPPS’s ability to carry out maintenance essential to keep prison places in use. We asked HMPPS what level of occupancy would allow it to operate an efficient estate. It told us that it would not want to be operating above 95% occupancy, but 90% would be ideal. It explained that this would provide staff with more time to, for example, assess prisoners, and that it would allow it to place prisoners in different areas of the country more efficiently.70 Impact of prison capacity crisis on safety and outcomes for prisoners
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.