Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2018 to Question 196269, what estimate he has made of the cost of producing an in-house bid for the operation of new-build prisons.

The Ministry of Justice has recently launched a competition to establish a framework of prison operators, from which the operators of the new prisons at Wellingborough and Glen Parva will be selected. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service will not be bidding in the competition. We have therefore not undertaken a detailed estimate of the cost of producing an in-house bid for the operation of new-build prisons. There will instead be a ‘public sector benchmark’, against which potential operators’ bids can be assessed. Where bids do not meet sufficient quality or value for money thresholds the public sector will act as the provider.

As stated in my Written Ministerial Statement on 29^th November, this competition is not about the difference between the public and private sector. It is about driving quality and innovation across the system and we expect bidders to provide high quality, value for money bids that deliver effective regimes to meet the specific needs of prisoners and help them turn their lives around to prevent reoffending.

Through this approach we are, as we must, focusing our resources on getting the basics right by addressing the significant challenges we face in improving safety and decency in our prisons.