Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Prison and Probation Service Annual Digest 2020/21, published on 29 July 2021, if he will published information his Department holds on projected future changes in the crowding rate within prisons.

We remain committed to reducing crowding across the estate. In the year to March 2021, the proportion of prisoners held in crowded accommodation was 20.2%, down from 22.5% the previous year and levels of around 25% experienced since 2004.

The government is investing more than £4 billion to make significant progress in delivering 18,000 additional prison places across England and Wales by the mid-2020s.This includes creating four new prisons over the next six years whilst also expanding a number of other prisons over the next three years. Additionally, construction is well underway on HMP Five Wells, the new prison in Wellingborough in Northamptonshire, and Glen Parva in Leicestershire, creating more than 3,300 places.

This additional capacity will have a positive impact on lowering the proportion of crowding within the prison estate. However, the extent to which the proportion of prisoners held in crowded accommodation will reduce will always be dependent on levels of demand in the system.