Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 6 February 2018 to Question 125374, how many times his Department raised concerns under the Defect provisions, as set out in the NEC3 standard form of the contract, to Amey relating to that company's delivery of contracts for prison maintenance in (a) 2016 and (b) 2017.

The Department issued Defects to Amey 299 times since June 2015 for services provided by the prison facilities management contracts.

Please note that a Defect is defined in the NEC3 contract as part of the service which is not provided in accordance with the contract specifications, applicable law or the agreed plan. The mechanism is a proactive contractual mechanism designed to identify deficiencies in a timely manner to allow Amey to correct within a time which minimises the adverse effect on the Department.