Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what recent progress his Department has made with its prisons building programme.

The government set out its ambition for a reformed prison estate in the November 2016 Prison Safety and Reform White Paper. This included a commitment to build up to 10,000 modern prison places which will provide the conditions to enable governors to achieve better educational, training and rehabilitation outcomes.

The government has since announced plans, subject to planning approvals, value for money and affordability, to build six modern prisons in the following locations:

• HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Glen Parva (redevelopment of closed prison);
• HM Prison Wellingborough (redevelopment of closed prison);
• on land adjacent to HM Prison Full Sutton in Yorkshire;
• Port Talbot in Neath;
• to redevelop HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Rochester in Kent; and
• HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Hindley in Greater Manchester.

We have since received outline planning permission to build on land at Full Sutton and we are working with the relevant stakeholders to develop our proposals. We are in the process of applying for full planning permission to redevelop the former HM Prison Wellingborough and HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Glen Parva. Contracts have been signed with construction partners and demolition work will begin in the near future.

We are also building a brand new houseblock at HM Prison Stocken, in Rutland, which will provide 206 modern places which we expect to be in operation by December this year