Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many new prison places were built between (a) May 1997-May 2010 and (b) May 2010 and July 2024.

Available records do not provide a complete breakdown of how many new prison places were built between May 1997 and May 2010. However, during this timeframe, the total operational capacity of the prison system increased from 61,927 to 89,757, a net increase of 27,830 places. This figure reflects the overall change in capacity, which includes newly built places. It also accounts for places removed from use across the period.

Between May 2010 and July 2024, the total operational capacity of the prison system increased from 89,757 to 90,212, a net increase of 455 places.

Our recently announced 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy outlines a target of 14,000 new prison places by 2031, supported by £2.3 billion in funding for prison builds over the next two years.