Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of available prison spaces.

As set out in the December 2024 10-Year Prison Capacity Strategy, this Government is committed to delivering an additional 14,000 prison places and aims to do so by 2031. Our build programme consists of the construction of four new prisons, including HMP Millsike delivered in March 2025, as well as the expansion and refurbishment of the existing estate. We broke ground at the site of the new prison HMP Welland Oaks in Leicestershire in November 2025.

This Government has invested £4.7 billion over the spending review period (2026/27 to 2028/29) to enable the delivery of these additional prison places at pace, and we have already delivered c.3,100 since taking office. We are also committed to undertaking critical maintenance work and the ambition to acquire more land for future prisons, should they be required.