Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what the decision-making criteria are for the closure and sale of prisons as part of their prison building programme.

Prisons are selected for closure through a well-established process including an economic analysis that identifies those prisons that are no longer fit for purpose in the modern prison estate and/or are most expensive to operate or maintain. The assessment also considers the impact of closure on the ability of the National Offender Management Service to deliver its business effectively.

Following a decision to close a prison and it subsequently being decommissioned the Ministry of Justice will prepare the site for disposal. At that stage, the Ministry of Justice will work closely with the local authority and others, on future options for the site. No decisions have yet been made about closures, other than those already announced.