Prison Maintenance: Insourcing

Lord Davies of Brixton Excerpts

Thursday 23rd January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Timpson (Lab)]

As someone who has employed many people in prison over many years, I am a big fan of enabling people to gain skills and confidence so that when they are released, they are less likely to come back. But it is all about risk, and not everybody in prison is ready to work within prison. The first workshop I opened was in HMP Liverpool, where we taught people to repair shoes and watches—due to risk assessments, we were not allowed to teach people to cut keys.

[Lord Davies of Brixton (Lab)]

I thank my noble friend the Minister for his reply, but he must be aware, from reports in the press and his own extremely diligent visits to the prison estate, that something needs to be done about the poor quality of prisons. Will he therefore revisit the ideological decision by the previous Government not to allow the public sector to bid for maintenance contracts when the existing contracts run out at the end of this year?