Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate his Department has made of the cost of prison repair work over the next three years.

We acknowledge there is a significant need for maintenance investment in the existing prison estate and are committed to reducing the level of outstanding prison repairs.

We are therefore providing additional funding to improve the condition of the estate. In 2020/21 we have secured an additional £156m on top of existing funding, which will be targeted at addressing the most urgent maintenance needs including health & safety, fire safety, and critical prison capacity issues.

However, we are aware that even this enhanced level of funding will not, on its own, be sufficient to manage the existing backlog and so we will also be seeking further maintenance funding in future spending rounds.