Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty's Government which prisons they have earmarked for closure; and what is the timetable for the closure of those prisons.

The Government set out its ambition for a reformed prison estate in the November 2016 Prison Safety and Reform White Paper. Our reforms will close ageing and ineffective prisons and replace them with buildings fit for today’s demands.

The Government announced plans, subject to planning approvals, value for money and affordability, to build six category C modern prisons in the following locations:

• HM Prison and Young Offender Instutition Glen Parva in Leicestershire;
• HM Prison Wellingborough, in Northamptonshire;
• on land adjacent to HM Prison Full Sutton in East Yorkshire;
• Port Talbot in Neath;
• HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Rochester in Kent; and
• HM Prison and Young Offender Institution Hindley, in Greater Manchester;

Subsequent to that announcement on 19 July 2017, the Government announced that the closures of HM Prison and Young Offender Institutions Hindley and Rochester for redevelopment have been postponed. Cells at these sites will be kept in use for now, as part of forward-planning for the estate.

The capacity of the sites will be determined before submitting outline planning applications. Outline planning permission was received last year for Wellingborough, Glen Parva and Full Sutton. We intend both Glen Parva and Wellingborough will have around 1,600 places and Full Sutton will have around 1,000 places.

Work has begun on the construction of a new 207 place houseblock at HM Prison Stocken, in Rutland. This will be ready for use from December 2018.

No decisions about future prison closures have been made other than those already announced.