Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the cost to the public purse of the prison operator competition to date; and what estimate he has made of the projected cost of that competition.

The estimated cost for the Prison Operator Competition up to April 2019 is £1.8m. The estimated projected cost of the competition (including costs to date) is £5.5m. The estimated costs cover the staffing and external advice required to develop and run the competition.