Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of savings to the public purse arising from the closure of prisons since 2010.

The capacity management has been a key element of the Ministry’s efficiency strategy over the past four years. This work ensures the most effective use of the prison estate and the closure of less efficient, uneconomic prison places where there is surplus capacity to do so.

16 Prisons have been closed and two prisons have been re-roled as Immigration Removal Centres since 2010. Our strategy of replacing old, uneconomic prison places with new, modern ones has reduced unit costs and delivered savings of around £155m per annum.