Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of prison space to house the projected prison population of 98,500 by March 2026.

We are committed to building as many prison places as we need. Over the next ten years, additional capacity will come in to use through new build prison accommodation, existing accommodation returning to use following the completion of essential maintenance or places coming into use following a change in function. We are investing £3.8 billion to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places including 2,000 temporary prison places across England and Wales. This includes creating four new prisons over the next six years and expanding another four prisons over the next three years. The first of these, HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, opened in February and work is also well underway at HMP Fosse Way, Leicestershire (on the former HMP Glen Parva site).