Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, if he will take HM Prison Altcourse back into public ownership.

There are no plans to return HMP Altcourse to public ownership. As a contracted-out prison, Altcourse has generally been a high-performing establishment. In the most recent performance ratings (published 31 July 2014), it was rated Level 3 (out of four levels, of which Level 4 is the highest). The National Offender Management Service is working closely with the contractor to ensure that issues in relation to recent events at the prison are fully and swiftly addressed, and will continue to monitor the prison’s progress closely.