Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how much his Department received in profits from prison (a) shops, (b) industries and (c) farms in each year since 2010.

Supporting offenders into meaningful employment is a vital part of the Government’s approach to tackling re-offending.

Work in prisons is spread across a number of different activities including Industries and prison Farms. These activities help in prisoners’ rehabilitation by providing varying levels of ability and skills development to help achieve employment on release.

Prison shops, Industries and Farms make a commercial income which contributes back to the high cost of imprisonment reducing the burden on the taxpayer. Nationally the provision of work in prison operates at cost and therefore does not make a 'profit', however any small surplus above cost recovery can be used by Governors to support further growth and rehabilitation activities. To obtain this information, however, would require an ask to all prisons to determine their costs with the activity concerned and analyse any difference between expenditure and income. This could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.