Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to page 1 of the Independent Monitoring Board's Annual Report 2015-16 on HM Prison Pentonville, whether she has met that Board to discuss the conclusion that Pentonville urgently needs a timetable for its replacement or for reducing the population and upgrading the facilities.

I (Sam Gyimah) wrote to the chair of the Pentonville Independent Monitoring Board on 30 August in response to concerns raised in their report.

As the Justice Secretary has made clear, there are a number of factors including the availability of psychoactive substances in prisons which must be tackled in order to make our prisons safe and places of rehabilitation.

Staff at HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Pentonville are working hard to address the concerns raised in the report and liaising with local police to tackle the threat of drugs entering the prison. Ministers continue to keep the population level and conditions of HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Pentonville under review.