Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new prison places are scheduled to be built by May (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.

At least c.6,400 new prison places are anticipated to be delivered by the end of May 2024, rising to c.8,200 by the end of May 2025, including places already delivered to date. We will push for earlier delivery of places wherever possible. In addition to these places, we extended the lease at HMP Dartmoor, maintaining 680 places from December 2023. We have also submitted planning appeals for new prisons in Lancashire, Leicestershire and Buckinghamshire, which will provide c.5,000 additional places. If planning is successful, these prisons would open as soon as possible.

Construction is well underway on our first all-electric prison, HMP Millsike, which will deliver c.1,500 new prison places. The installation of 1,000 Rapid Deployment Cells has started, with the first two sites already accepting prisoners, and the majority will be delivered in 2023. Construction continues on new houseblocks at HMP Stocken, HMP Hatfield, HMP Sudbury and HMP Rye Hill, which will add c.850 places between them. We are also undertaking major refurbishments at sites including HMP Birmingham, HMP Liverpool and HMP Norwich, delivering c.800 cells between them; the wing by wing refurbishment at HMP Liverpool will see every cell renovated and the second phase of works has delivered 75 places ahead of schedule in April.

We have made c.2,600 spaces available since September 2022 (the equivalent of two large new prisons) through maximising use of the existing estate, deferring non-essential maintenance and swiftly delivering our 20,000 place portfolio.