Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 12 February 2018 to Question 126350, whether prison governors will be empowered to bring prison maintenance back in house.

We will only transform our prisons into places of rehabilitation if we ensure that we address basic issues such as cleanliness, decent conditions and safety. The issues in our jails will not be resolved overnight, but the work we are doing to improve the quality of prison accommodation and the investment of £100m to bring in an additional 2,500 frontline prison officers are a key part of our strategy to transform our prisons.

Our facilities management providers, Amey and Gov Facility Services Ltd, play an important role in achieving this. As I have stated in my answers to Questions 125140 and 126350, we will continue to work with both, as well as with prison governors, to secure the improvements required.