Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the report by the Independent Monitoring Boards The impact of a crumbling prison estate on prisoners published in November, what plans they have (1) to consider the potential merits of returning prison maintenance to the public sector, and (2) to review the value of privatised services within the remit of the Ministry of Justice.

The Government has a programme of work underway that will put in place new contracts for the provision of maintenance services for prison, these will be competitively tendered.

The value and performance of the Department’s private-sector service providers is reviewed through routine contract and performance management and, in addition, as contracts are approaching expiry so decisions about whether to continue to outsource services can be taken.