Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department plans to take to assist local contractors in the tendering process for work at HM Prison Wrexham.

Businesses and interested individuals can find out about potential opportunities on two dedicated websites - Business Wales and Sell2Wales - which are managed by the Welsh Government. Both sites have a dedicated North Wales project page where suppliers and local businesses are encouraged to submit an expression of interest for future construction positions. The development will be seeking to create long-term work opportunities for local suppliers.

This is to support the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) partnership with Lend Lease who has committed to spending £30 million with local businesses and to recruit 50% of the entire workforce from within a 50 mile radius with a target of 70%. Under the contractual arrangements in place, Lend Lease reports to the MoJ on a regular basis on how much of the contract is being spent with companies within a 25 and 50 mile radius of the prison site. To date over £1.6m has been spent with local businesses as part of the early works at the prison site. In addition, the prison is set to boost the regional economy by around £23m a year and create up to 1,000 jobs once operational.