Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many extra places will be created in public sector prisons; from what date; and for how long.

Prison numbers fluctuate throughout the yearand we have sufficient accommodation for the current and expected population

Sensible measures have been taken to ensure that we will have sufficient capacity to deal with the projected level of the population. These measures include identifying additional places in prisons that can provide safe and decent conditions if required.. This is a proportionate measure to ensure that we are able to hold all of those committed to custody by the courts.

Decisions on the number of such spaces required and their duration of use will depend on the current and projected prison population, including an assessment of the necessary margin to manage population fluctuations.

We will end this Parliament with more adult male prison places than we inherited, more hours of work in prisons than we inherited, more education for young detainees than we inherited and a more modern, cost effective prison estate than we inherited.