Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what was the average annual cost of incarcerating a prisoner in each year between 2011 and 2014.

The average cost per prisoner has been reducing year-on-year since 2009-10. Between 2009-10 and 2013-14 there has been a real terms reduction of 17% in the overall average cost per prisoner.

The Department routinely publishes average costs per prisoner and prison place, based on actual net resource expenditure for each private and public sector prison and in summary form for the whole of the prison estate in England and Wales on an annual basis after the end of each financial year. This includes a breakdown of these costs by prison category and individual prison within each category.

The latest published information for the average cost of a prison place and average cost of a prisoner for financial year 2013-14, together with other information on the calculation of prison unit costs is published alongside the Management Information Addendum to the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) Annual Report & Accounts. This can be accessed using the following link:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314

A copy of this and similar information for previous financial years can also be found in the House library.

Continuing to reduce prison unit costs is one of the key targets for the Department and we are committed to delivering prison changes designed to modernise the prison estate and further reduce prison costs.