Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Written Statement of 2 April 2019, Official Report HCWS1475 on HMP Birmingham, what the costs to the public purse would be of the public sector providing the quality of service referred to in the Statement; and where that explanation has been published.

The information referred to in the Written Statement relates to the competition to operate the new prisons at Wellingborough and Glen Parva, Her Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service has provided a ‘public sector benchmark’, against which potential operators’ bids will be rigorously assessed. For the Wellingborough competition, this work has already been undertaken and has informed the specification and affordability threshold for this competition. We are clear that where bids do not meet sufficient quality or value-for-money thresholds, the public sector will act as the provider.

The Government remains committed to a diverse market of prison operators and competition for custodial services remains an important way of achieving that and driving quality of operations and innovation across the system.