Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 14 February to Question 217442 on Birmingham Prison: G4S, whether G4S (a) was required to pay any forfeitures as a result of the step-in and (b) paid during the period of the step-in.

Any additional costs incurred to HMPPS as a result of the step-in action, including HMPPS staff and for cells taken out of operational use, are being claimed from G4S in accordance with the terms of our contract with them. The details of that claim are commercially restricted.

While we are confident that the action taken at HMP Birmingham has begun to arrest the decline and brought signs of improvement, as I have said previously, we will not return the prison to G4S control until we are assured that it the issues which gave rise to the step-in have been remedied and are not likely to recur. We have decided to extend the step-in and the position will be reviewed again in summer 2019. We will not hand the prison back to G4S unless we are completely satisfied it is safe to do so.