Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether his Department collects data on the number of cells that are overcrowded in each prison.

All prisoner accommodation is certified in line with the Certified Prisoner Accommodation Framework. Cells are only shared where a Prison Group Director has certified them to be of an adequate size and condition. The process of certification requires every prison to record all cells that have been assessed as suitable for crowding, and this information is held centrally.

Crowding data is published annually as part of the HMPPS Annual Digest. The 2022/23 version of the Annual Digest is due to be published on 27 July 2023.