"Investing in prison and probation services has been a key priority for this
administration. Prison places are up by nearly 25,000, to 85,000, with
spending rising by a similar proportion; whilst the probation caseload has
risen by 52% and spending has increased 70% in real terms. This is the first
postwar government to see a sustained reduction in crime, down 39% since
1997, with the chances of being a victim the lowest for a generation. There
has been a 23% fall in adult reoffending between 2000 and 2006."
"...understandable concern has been expressed about the numbers of juveniles
and women held in custody. There has over the past year been a reduction of
8% in the number of juveniles [15-17 years] in jail. The number of adult
women prisoners has fallen by 3% over the same period. In response to my
noble Friend Baroness Corston’s recommendations I have committed £15.6
million over two years to help divert vulnerable women offenders from
prison."
"We also want the Prison Service and the NHS better to deal with offenders
with mental health problems. My noble friend Lord Bradley’s report on this
will be published shortly. My noble friend Lord Carter of Coles was asked in
2007 to consider how better to manage short and medium term prison
pressures. I published his report alongside an Oral Statement on 5 December
2007."
"Since the publication of Lord Carter’s report we have already provided an
additional 3,500 prison places. Lord Carter recommended that net capacity
should be brought up to 96,000 by 2014 and that 7,500 of these places should
be created by the construction of three 2,500-place prison complexes,
described as ‘Titans’. In June last year we launched a consultation on these
proposals....
"The government’s response to the consultation is published today, along
with the document, ‘Capacity and Competition Policy for Prisons and
Probation’ and an economic impact assessment..."
"Once a prison is established in an area, almost without exception the local
community becomes very supportive of it. A prison is a source of secure,
well paid employment and a focus for much volunteering. The research
evidence which shows that prisons have no adverse effect on house prices or
crime rates is then borne out by experience. But proposals for new prisons
can at first be controversial."
" I did see merit in Lord Carter’s proposals for 2,500-place
prisons, especially as they would have been complexes with four or five
separate and distinct regimes. But most of those whom we consulted took a
different view, and believed that the disadvantages would outweigh the
advantages. Not the least of those of this view was Dame Anne Owers, HM
Chief Inspector of Prisons."
"I have looked very carefully at everything which has been said, and have
concluded that the right approach is to deliver the 7,500 places not through
Titans, but through five prisons holding 1,500 offenders, each divided into
smaller units. We already operate successfully prisons of this size."
"These new prisons will neither be Victorian replicas nor large warehouses.
They will be modern, purpose-built institutions for adult male prisoners
only. They will be safe, secure and effective in helping prisoners deal with
their offending and develop the work, education and life skills they need to
turn their lives around."
"I can announce today that we are working to secure sites for
the first two 1,500-place prisons at Beam Park West, in the London Borough
of Barking and Dagenham, and Runwell, in the Borough of Chelmsford in Essex.
Both prisons will be privately built and run, and their construction and
operation will sustain many hundreds of jobs."
"Prison capacity planning depends crucially on projections of future demand
and judgements about the cost-effectiveness and appropriateness of replacing
older places with new capacity. These and other considerations are kept
under constant review, and further decisions as to sites and the removal of
older provision will be announced in due course. In this context I can tell
the House that we will not be pursuing a prison on the Omega site in
Warrington. Meanwhile, work is already in hand to increase capacity by
approximately 8,500 places over the next three years. It also remains my
intention to withdraw the End of Custody Licence scheme as soon as safely
possible. "
"The expansion is going to include two new public prisons –
Isis, adjacent to Belmarsh, and Coltishall, a former RAF base in Norfolk;
and two new private prisons – Belmarsh West and Maghull. We are also
expanding HMP Littlehey – near Huntingdon – to provide 480 places by early
next year, as a quicker, more cost-effective option than buying and
converting a prison ship."
"... at all times, but especially in today’s economic climate, we have a
duty to ensure that prison and probation services work as efficiently and
effectively as possible in the interests of the public. We are seeking to
improve the efficiency of public sector prisons through reforms to workforce
structures for new uniformed staff and by reducing management costs. From
today we will be consulting on the detail of these plans."
"Nearly 90% of prison places are delivered directly by the public sector,
but the private sector also plays an important part. The Government’s
approach to competition was described in last November’s Pre-Budget Report
and last Wednesday’s Red Book."
"I have already set out the situation for new-build prisons... Two
poorly performing public prisons will be market-tested this year, Birmingham
and Wellingborough. Public, private and third sector providers will all be
invited to bid."
"... let me now turn to probation. It is against a background of greatly
increased real terms budgets that the Probation Service is now being asked
to make some savings of low percentages this year and thereafter."
"Detailed analyses show that historically the workload and resources of
probation areas have not necessarily been well matched, especially when
measured against convictions – the key determinant of workload. So we are
now seeking to target resources better to match needs. We want to be clearer
about the service probation should deliver, to reduce administration costs,
and rigorously to manage contracts."
"The ‘Probation Trusts’ programme gives areas greater control over budgets
and enables the private and third sectors to provide more services. If
Probation Boards fail to become Trusts, from 2010 options will include
amalgamation into existing Trusts or being put to competition in the open
market. Probation court services will remain with the public sector, as
required by the Offender Management Act 2007."
"Probation areas are now also required to review their services against a
national ‘Best Value’ framework. If services fail to meet the standards
necessary, areas must improve performance or use competition to identify
alternative providers. As the first services to be reviewed in 2009, at
least 25% of Community Payback and Victim Contact services will be competed
in the open market."
"... we have provided nearly 25,000 prison places since 1997 to accommodate
the most serious, dangerous and persistent offenders. And we are committed
to bringing the total number of places up to 96,000 by 2014. Over the last
decade, prison conditions have been transformed. As HM Chief Inspector of
Prisons has acknowledged, prisons today are more decent, more constructive
and considerably more secure. They are places of punishment and reform."
"The measures I have announced today for expanding and modernising the
prison estate and the management of prisons and probation will allow us to
realise still further improvements to public protection and reoffending,
with maximum benefit for the taxpaying public."
