Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter of 30 March 2017 sent by the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Justice to the Clerk of the Justice Select Committee on Ministry of Justice Supplementary Estimate Memorandum 2016-17, what estimate he has made of the level of private finance required to meet the potential shortfall between projected capital spending and the funding allocated under the Spending Review 2015 for the prison building programme.

We are investing £1.3bn to build up to 10,000 new prison places with better education facilities and other rehabilitative services.

The department is in the process of revising its financial plans to take account of changes to planned timescales due to the election, and also to ensure that the overall plans reflect the priorities of the new government. We will share updated financial plans with the Justice Select Committee in the Autumn. No decisions have been made as to whether there is a role for private finance.