Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page five of the House Commons Library Deposited Paper, DEP2019-0490, Prison Operator Competition Contract Summary, whether staffing levels are included in Daily Reports.

The Daily Report is a log provided by the contractor to the Ministry of Justice each day by 9am. It provides information about the previous day, including details of: the number of available prisoner places; the number of unavailable prison places; the number of prisoners accommodated at the prison; and the number of prisoners sharing a cell. Information on staffing levels is not provided in the Daily Report but is submitted through other management information requirements.

The information provided in the Daily Report is used to calculate the Daily Payment, the monthly aggregate of which forms the main element of the monthly payment made to the contractor. The Daily Payment is based on the number of available prisoner places provided by the contractor and is calculated daily in order to capture changes in prisoner place availability.