Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government's plans to deliver 14,000 additional prison places by 2031.

As set out in the December 2024 10-Year Capacity Strategy, we remain committed to delivering 14,000 prison places and aim to do so by 2031. We have already delivered around 3,300 places since July 2024.

The prison supply programmes contributing to the commitment are subject to established government assurance and oversight arrangements, including scrutiny through the Government Major Projects Portfolio by the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority. This supports regular assessment of delivery confidence, risks and mitigations.

We continue to take action to remove barriers to delivery and safeguard capacity. We are now going even further: on 1 September 2026, the Government announced £110 million to accelerate delivery of prison places, alongside investment to acquire new land for future prisons and convert suitable existing space within prisons into additional cells.