Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what estimates they have made of the amount of money likely to be paid to Carillion as a result of prison disorders and riots in the last five years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The following amounts have been paid, or are forecast to be paid, to Carillion in respect of concerted indiscipline at the following sites since Total Facilities Management contracts commenced on 1st June 2015:
Establishment | Amount paid | Amounts forecast to be payable |
Bedford | - | £444,813 |
Swaleside | £14,452 | Final amount to be confirmed following completion and verification of work undertaken |
Lewes | £166,762.12 | - |
Erlestoke | £631,468 | £168,026 |
We will continue to closely monitor Carillion’s performance and have robust processes in place to ensure they are fulfilling their contractual requirements.
It is right that prison repair work is carried out in a timely and effective manner to ensure public protection. We always work to ensure we achieve value for money for the taxpayer and keep our costs under review.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much money has been paid to Carillion as a result of damage to prison property during disorders and riots in the last five years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The following amounts have been paid, or are forecast to be paid, to Carillion in respect of concerted indiscipline at the following sites since Total Facilities Management contracts commenced on 1st June 2015:
Establishment | Amount paid | Amounts forecast to be payable |
Bedford | - | £444,813 |
Swaleside | £14,452 | Final amount to be confirmed following completion and verification of work undertaken |
Lewes | £166,762.12 | - |
Erlestoke | £631,468 | £168,026 |
We will continue to closely monitor Carillion’s performance and have robust processes in place to ensure they are fulfilling their contractual requirements.
It is right that prison repair work is carried out in a timely and effective manner to ensure public protection. We always work to ensure we achieve value for money for the taxpayer and keep our costs under review.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the performance by Carillion of their contract to provide personal items to serving prisoners.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Carillion plc, along with Amey plc, provide Facilities Management (FM) services for the public sector prison estate in England and Wales. Contractors have a responsibility to provide a linen and laundry sorting service to the prison; although most of the items passing through this service are actually the property of the prison. In most prisons, the sorting of these items is delivered by prisoners under the management of Stores personnel who are provided by the FM contracts. Although at the outset of the contract there were some issues with resources, performance in this area has generally been good.
FM contracts commenced in June 2015 and the Ministry of Justice continues to robustly monitor the performance of contractors.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking to ensure that Carillion complies with its contract to provide personal items to serving prisoners.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
Carillion plc, along with Amey plc, provide Facilities Management (FM) services for the public sector prison estate in England and Wales. Contractors have a responsibility to provide a linen and laundry sorting service to the prison; although most of the items passing through this service are actually the property of the prison. In most prisons, the sorting of these items is delivered by prisoners under the management of Stores personnel who are provided by the FM contracts. Although at the outset of the contract there were some issues with resources, performance in this area has generally been good.
FM contracts commenced in June 2015 and the Ministry of Justice continues to robustly monitor the performance of contractors.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many citizens of the Irish Republic are held in UK prisons.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
At 31 December 2016, there were 746 Irish citizens detained in England and Wales in prisons and in the NOMS run Immigration Removal Centres.
The United Kingdom and Ireland are signatories to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The Convention provides for the voluntary transfer of an individual. It is open to any Irish national serving a sentence of imprisonment to apply for transfer.
The transfer of prisoners from Scotland and from Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the relevant devolved authority.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many citizens of the Irish Republic sentenced to prison in the UK are permitted to serve their sentence in the Republic.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
At 31 December 2016, there were 746 Irish citizens detained in England and Wales in prisons and in the NOMS run Immigration Removal Centres.
The United Kingdom and Ireland are signatories to the Council of Europe Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons. The Convention provides for the voluntary transfer of an individual. It is open to any Irish national serving a sentence of imprisonment to apply for transfer.
The transfer of prisoners from Scotland and from Northern Ireland is a devolved matter and is the responsibility of the relevant devolved authority.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they have any plans to hold men and women prisoners on shared sites.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie
The Prison Safety and Reform White Paper (Cmnd 9350), published 3 November 2016, announced the intention to create five small community prisons for women. It said that we will seek to use land adjacent to existing prison sites to get economies of scale, while maintaining the feel of separate institutions that will be important for prisoners’ experiences.
In line with one of the key recommendations in your review: ‘Women with Particular Vulnerabilities in the Criminal Justice System’, one of our primary objectives is improving closeness to home for women offenders. The creation of these prisons will mean that more women are held closer to their homes and given the support services they need to help them address what are often multiple and complex needs.
We are currently looking for appropriate sites and will set out further detail on the design and operation of these prisons as part of a wider strategy for female offenders which we will publish next year.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many organisations named as second- and third-tier subcontractors to community rehabilitation companies in successful bids have ended their contract in 2016.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
We are aware of three organisations named as second and third tier subcontractors to community rehabilitation companies in successful bids that have ended their contract in 2016.
This excludes organisations named as second and third tier subcontractors to community rehabilitation companies with whom sub contracts were not executed, or contracts which have reached the end of their term and expired.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the decision-making criteria are for the closure and sale of prisons as part of their prison building programme.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Prisons are selected for closure through a well-established process including an economic analysis that identifies those prisons that are no longer fit for purpose in the modern prison estate and/or are most expensive to operate or maintain. The assessment also considers the impact of closure on the ability of the National Offender Management Service to deliver its business effectively.
Following a decision to close a prison and it subsequently being decommissioned the Ministry of Justice will prepare the site for disposal. At that stage, the Ministry of Justice will work closely with the local authority and others, on future options for the site. No decisions have yet been made about closures, other than those already announced.
Asked by: Baroness Corston (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether the National Offender Management Service is still providing prison officer training under the Women Awareness Staff Programme.
Answered by Earl of Courtown - Captain of the Queen's Bodyguard of the Yeomen of the Guard (HM Household) (Deputy Chief Whip, House of Lords)
Staff who work within women’s prisons are able to undertake two additional training programmes, ‘Women Awareness Staff Programme’ and ‘Sex Workers in Custody and the Community’.
Additionally, nearly 2,000 staff in women’s prisons and providers of community services in England and Scotland have received training on developing ‘trauma informed’ practice, which entails understanding and responding to behaviours arising from a history of trauma.