Tory prison expansion plans 'years behind schedule' and 'billions over budget'
4 December 2024, 09:31
Boris Johnson’s plan to provide 20,000 new prison places by 2026 is due to be completed five years late and billions over budget, Whitehall’s spending watchdog has found.
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The National Audit Office said current plans for prison capacity were “insufficient to meet future demand” amid a projected shortage of 12,400 places by the end of 2027.
After its commitment in 2021 to deliver 20,000 new places by the mid-2020s, HM Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has so far created just 6,518 in England and Wales.
Meanwhile, expansion plans in the prison estate are expected to cost between £9.4bn and £10.1bn, which auditors said would be at least £4.2bn above previous estimates.
The findings have been labelled as “unacceptable” by the Tory chair of parliament’s spending watchdog.
The predicted shortage in Wednesday's report comes from its projection that prison demand will increase at a faster rate than capacity.
The report’s reasons for delays to capacity expansion plans include “overestimating [the MoJ’s] ability to gain planning permission for three out of the six new prisons” and “unrealistic timelines”.
It attributed these issues to government bodies not working together to prioritise delivery, blaming successive Conservative governments.
“It is the result of previous governments’ failure to ensure that the number of prison places was aligned with criminal justice policies,” the report said.
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Over 2020 and 2021, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) increased the scale of its prison expansion plans from 13,400 to 20,000 additional places by the mid-2020s, auditors said.
Despite plans to build six new prisons, refurbish existing prisons and install temporary accommodation, HMPPS has been unable to increase prison places in line with demand.
This had resulted in the prison estate operating at close to or at full capacity for over two years, auditors found.
Contributing to the estimated £4.2bn overspend were several significant cost increases, auditors said.
These include the rising cost of rapid deployment cells – temporary housing units placed in prisons – and inflation in the construction sector, where prices have risen by 40%.
Andrea Coomber, the chief executive of the Howard League for Penal Reform, said: “This scathing report underlines a fact that the new government has recognised – we cannot build our way out of the prison capacity crisis.
“Finding a solution is not simply a matter of supply; we have to reduce demand.”
Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the chair of the Commons’ public accounts committee, said the delay and extra costs were “clearly unacceptable”.
“The Ministry of Justice has been in firefighting mode, prioritising short-term solutions to the crisis. These are not only expensive, but also increase risks to prisoners, staff and public safety,” he said.
“The government must pull together a coherent and viable long-term plan for a prison estate that meets demand and delivers value for taxpayers’ money.”
