Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the document entitled The number of prison places built and closed (2010-2024), published on 25 October 2024, if she will publish the number of prison places lost as a result of (a) prison closures, (b) dilapidation and (c) other changes to capacity between 1 May 2010 and 30 April 2024, broken down by region.

As set out in the quoted document in October 2024, the previous Government only managed to increase prison capacity by c.500 places between May 2010 and April 2024. A regional breakdown of the number of prison places removed during this period has been provided as an Excel document alongside this response. The ‘other’ category in the table includes all other changes to operational capacity such as places temporarily out of use for maintenance.

Last year, this Government announced plans to build 14,000 places by 2031 as part of our 10-year Prison Capacity Strategy. We have already started the 700-place expansion at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk earlier this month, and a new houseblock providing nearly 460 places at HMP Rye Hill in Northamptonshire recently received its first prisoners. We are also opening HMP Millsike in the coming weeks, which will hold nearly 1,500 prisoners.