Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the oral contribution of the Minister of State for the Ministry of Justice of 2 July 2018, Official Report, column 100, what criteria his Department has used to determine that 10,000 prison places will lead to the accommodation of 20,000 prisoners.

In my comments during the Supplementary Estimates Debate on 2 July 2018, I was referring to the 20,000 modern prison places. This included 10,000 places produced over the last decade (including HMP Berwyn), and the 10,00 additional places which will be provided in the future through the prison estate transformation programme.

Together these provide decent, modern, spaces which contribute, as I said, to improving the physical conditions in, and decency of, the accommodation in the prison estate that underlie the real problems relating to dignity, cleanliness and everyday life that contribute directly to violence.