Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of prison cells were not in use due to (a) disrepair and (b) poor estate conditions in October 2024.

This Government has inherited a prison system in crisis, with infrastructure crumbling, dangerous jails and our hardworking staff under immense pressure. We have taken difficult, but necessary action to urgently reduce capacity pressures and save prisons from the point of collapse. We continue to invest in the estate to ensure that prisons are safe, decent and secure.

As of 28 October, there were around 2,200 places out of use to enable planned maintenance, refurbishment or repair. This equates to 2% of all available prison places and we are working at pace to bring these places back online. This total cannot be broken down into the categories requested given that HMPPS does not record data in this way.