Coldingley

The Board would be dismayed if there is any further slippage in the programme for the refurbishment of the older residential blocks including in-cell sanitation.

I am very sympathetic to the needs at HMP Coldingley, and elsewhere across the estate. As the Board is aware, the in-cell sanitation project is part of a five-year investment of works being delivered, with four other major upgrades: fire safety improvements; rewiring; replacing the windows of the cells and the cell call system. I am pleased to inform the Board that the refurbishment works to A-D wings is likely to be completed in November 2025, and the refurbishment of the rest of the site by November 2026. I acknowledge there have been issues with the heating system mainly due to ageing / failing assets. The heating programme of work is due to start in February 2023 and is estimated to be completed in May 2024. In the interim, temporary measures are in place to help improve the reliability of the hot water boilers and heating. While large scale projects are commissioned by the Ministry of Justice Property Directorate, the Governor has input at the planning stage to ensure the concerns and needs of the establishment are reflected at an early stage.

Would the minister indicate what else is planned to offer hope to such prisoners?

Thank you for bringing to my attention the number of prisoners at HMP Coldingley who are over their sentence tariff period and for welcoming the provisions in the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 around placing a requirement on the Secretary of State to automatically refer eligible imprisonment for public protection (IPP) prisoners to the Parole Board. The Justice Select Committee enquiry into the IPP sentence has now been published. The evidence and recommendations from the report are being carefully considered and a full response will be provided in due course. I hope to reassure the Board that HM Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) will be reviewing the existing IPP Action Plan in light of the report and will do all they can to support those who remain in prison and their progression towards a safe release. The forum for Lifer prisoners is now running at HMP Coldingley, and IPP prisoners currently have access to this forum as there are insufficient numbers to run a separate forum.

Can more accommodation be created in category D establishments?

Regarding the shortage of places in category D prisons in southern England, some prisons have been affected by the fire safety standards remedial works which led to some closures to a number of accommodation blocks over the course of 2021. HMPPS replaced some of these places, particularly in the south, with existing temporary accommodation brought in 2020/21 as part of Covid-19 contingency measures and in other sites, with new temporary accommodation. As announced in our publications, we are investing £3.8 billion over the next three years to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places including 2,000 temporary prison places across England and Wales. This portfolio of work will deliver 1,320 additional places through expansion of the category D estate at a number of sites across the country and will help the situation greatly.

What steps is HMPPS taking to investigate the underlying causes of what appears to be a widespread issue?

We are continually improving the governance of use of force (UoF) and will be reviewing our good governance tool kit to support prisons to analyse their local data and take action where disproportionality exists. We have established a working group to look at the underlying causes of disproportionality described in your report with membership comprising of HMPPS Diversity and Inclusion Team, the Evidence Based Practice Team and UoF policy leads. The Governor will continue to robustly analyse UoF data. As this work is ongoing, no conclusions have been made.

Can anything be done to give the Governor more power to intervene in the local delivery of such arrangements in the next two years?

As part of the Prisons White Paper commitments to support local autonomy, in July 2021 HMPPS issued a Free, Flex, Fixed (FFF) guidance on existing powers to Governors (it does not replace or change any underlying guidance or policy frameworks, Prison Service Instructions or Orders). FFF has provided increased clarity to operational leaders about what is expected of them, made best practice more easily accessible and empowered them to use their existing local powers more readily.

The economic case alone for the swift introduction of a digital system is compelling. The just-published Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework fails to address the overwhelming case for new technology.

The new Prisoners’ Property Policy Framework was designed with procedural justice at its core and aims to ensure consistency and fairness and enhance prisoners’ satisfaction with processes and outcomes. Given the nature of property, and the movement of prisoners between establishments, the framework looks to provide greater direction and standardisation on a national basis. It strengthens processes in relation to the main problem areas identified by IMBs and staff including the handling of valuable property, managing cell clearances, compliance with volumetric control and forwarding on excess property following a prisoner’s transfer. While digital improvements to property processes are being explored, the nature of that work means that any changes are likely to be longer-term and it was not possible to include in the new framework. Locally, the Governor is working closely with sending establishments to ensure that prisoner property is transferred in a timely manner, if it is more than what can be transferred via the Prisoner Escort and Custody Service.

Can prison Governors be given more control over when and how works on their sites are maintained and handed over?

I am very sympathetic to the needs at HMP Coldingley, and elsewhere across the estate. As the Board is aware, the in-cell sanitation project is part of a five-year investment of works being delivered, with four other major upgrades: fire safety improvements; rewiring; replacing the windows of the cells and the cell call system. I am pleased to inform the Board that the refurbishment works to A-D wings is likely to be completed in November 2025, and the refurbishment of the rest of the site by November 2026. I acknowledge there have been issues with the heating system mainly due to ageing / failing assets. The heating programme of work is due to start in February 2023 and is estimated to be completed in May 2024. In the interim, temporary measures are in place to help improve the reliability of the hot water boilers and heating. While large scale projects are commissioned by the Ministry of Justice Property Directorate, the Governor has input at the planning stage to ensure the concerns and needs of the establishment are reflected at an early stage.

Coldingley, as a training and resettlement prison, needs more robust local managerial oversight to achieve an effective outcome for prisoners.

As part of the Prisons White Paper commitments to support local autonomy, in July 2021 HMPPS issued a Free, Flex, Fixed (FFF) guidance on existing powers to Governors (it does not replace or change any underlying guidance or policy frameworks, Prison Service Instructions or Orders). FFF has provided increased clarity to operational leaders about what is expected of them, made best practice more easily accessible and empowered them to use their existing local powers more readily.

managers must not give up searching for innovative and imaginative methods of increasing surveillance and improving everyone’s safety.

The illicit economy in prisons flourishes where conditions are poor. We are working to ensure that conditions in prison provide a protective and supportive environment that give a sense of safety for people in prison. In August 2019, the Government announced the investment of £100 million in prison security to disrupt criminality which affects prisons and our communities. The landmark Security Investment Programme to provide cutting edge equipment essential for helping to detect illicit items and prevent them from entering prisons, was completed in March 2022. More broadly, through the Prisons Strategy White Paper, we have committed to the following: • Create a Crime in Prisons Taskforce, to enhance our capabilities to disrupt crime and ensure evidence and investigations lead to more criminal justice outcomes, in order to prevent criminality in prisons. • Expand our Serious and Organised Crime Unit, to provide more specialist support for managing the threat of gangs and organised crime networks and strengthen our partnership working with law enforcement. • Explore options to increase the use of cutting-edge X-Ray body scanners, including on staff. • Have safety and security as foundational principles to reinforce the zero-tolerance approach to drugs, weapons and other illicit contraband. All new build prisons are equipped with security measures that contribute to cutting crime as standard. This will include Enhanced Gate Security, X-Ray body scanners and biometric visitor identification. Locally at HMP Coldingley, interesting work is being undertaken in conjunction with the provider Forward Trust to tackle the challenges around substance misuse in custody to reduce reoffending on release.

In all these cases the solution must be to continue and intensify the programmes of in-house staff training and mentoring.