Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government whether they have plans to increase the number of prisoners accommodated in prisons across England and Wales; and what consideration they have given to trends in sentencing.

This government has been decisive in our tough approach to crime, including legislating to introduce tougher sentences for the most serious crimes. We have long anticipated the prison population rising as a result of these measures, and sentencing trends are modelled into our published prison population projections.

This is why we are delivering the largest prison build programme since the Victorian era, creating 20,000 additional, modern prison places. We have already delivered over 3,100 of these additional places to date including through the brand-new prison, HMP Five Wells, which opened last year. HMP Fosse Way will open this year, and construction has started on our newest prison next to HMP Full Sutton - bringing over 3,000 new prison places between them.

We are continuing to invest in prison maintenance so that existing places remain in use and are safe, secure and decent for prisoners and staff.