Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the Report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Periodic visit to the United Kingdom carried out by the CPT from 8 to 21 June 2021 and the Government response, when his Department last reviewed the capacity of (a) each prison and (b) the prison estate overall in England and Wales.

The capacity of each prison and the overall capacity of the prison estate is reviewed on a weekly basis to ensure there are sufficient places for all offenders. Prison numbers can fluctuate, which is why we have a robust set of plans in place to ensure we will always have enough places for offenders sent to custody by the courts.

We are committed to building as many prison places as we need. Over the next ten years, additional capacity will come in to use through new build prison accommodation, existing accommodation returning to use following the completion of essential maintenance or places coming into use following a change in function.

We are investing £3.8 billion to deliver 20,000 additional, modern prison places including 2,000 temporary prison places across England and Wales. This includes refurbishing and building additional houseblocks across existing prison sites and creating four new prisons over the next six years and expanding another four prisons over the next three years. The first of these, HMP Five Wells in Northamptonshire, opened in February and work is also well underway at HMP Fosse Way, Leicestershire (on the former HMP Glen Parva site).