Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many compensation claims for loss or damage to prisoners' property left in the custody of the Prison Service were made in the last year for which figures are available; and what the total amount was of compensation so claimed.

Compensation payments to prisoners can be made through civil litigation, internal complaints, or as a result of recommendations made by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman and by the Parliamentary Ombudsman.

The National Offender Management Service does not record centrally the total number of compensation claims made for loss or damage to prisoners’ property or what the total requested amount was against the compensation claims made by prisoners in England and Wales. To establish such information we would require an individual prison wide-survey and this would be a significant exercise and could only be done at disproportionate cost.