Select Committee on Public Accounts Minutes of Evidence

Supplementary memorandum submitted by the Home Office

Question 54 (Mr Richard Bacon):   Details of the total number of Modular Temporary Units (MTUs) and Ready To Use Units (RTUs) provided and the total costs.

  Twenty nine MTUs were provided at a total cost for construction, professional fees and escort of £27,968,606. Eighteen RTUs (brick clad steel frame units) were provided at a total cost of £44,376,422. A breakdown of these costs by individual sites is set out below.

MODULAR TEMPORARY UNITS TOTAL COSTS—FINAL ACCOUNTS AS AT JANUARY 2006

Ref	Establishment	Number Of MTUS	Construction Cost inc VAT	Professional fees	Escorts	Total
1	North Sea Camp	2	1,160,068	53,584	—	1,213,652
2	Highpoint	2	1,467,757	71,980	20,000	1,559,737
3	Hollesley Bay	2	1,599,707	79,000	—	1,678,707
4	Standford Hill	2	1,290,597	76,889	20,000	1,387,486
5	Leyhill	2	1,703,938	81,745	9,000	1,794,683
6	Wealstun	2	1,555,922	76,689	9,000	1,641,611
7	Hatfield	2	1,575,592	77,658	20,000	1,673,250
8	Spring Hill	2	1,738,422	85,097	20,000	1,843,519
9	Prescoed	1	1,041,493	47,439	7,500	1,096,432
10	Stocken	1	1,501,369	54,440	15,000	1,570,809
11	Wayland	1	1,112,710	51,605	15,000	1,179,315
12	Acklington	1	928,418	45,760	30,000	1,004,178
13	Camp Hill	1	1,596,342	79,195	50,000	1,725,537
14	Channings Wood	1	944,667	45,593	30,000	1,020,260
15	Erlestoke	1	1,059,928	49,031	7,500	1,116,459
16	Kirklevington	1	1,008,148	48,561	30,000	1,086,709
17	Low Newton	1	916,707	44,479	30,000	991,186
18	New Hall	1	985,784	47,408	33,000	1,066,192
19	Sudbury	1	1,000,648	41,262	30,000	1,071,910
20	Wymott	1	1,323,449	62,637	30,000	1,416,086
21	Whatton	1	784,711	38,677	7,500	830,888
	Grand total	29	26,296,377	1,258,729	413,500	27,968,606

Notes:
These figures do not include local contracts, equipment and ancillaries.

The previous figures available to the NAO included some provisional estimates and contingencies and the above figures now reflect actual expenditure.

READY TO USE UNITS TOTAL COSTS—FINAL ACCOUNTS AS AT JANUARY 2006

Ref	Establishment	Number Of MTUS	Construction Cost inc VAT	Professional fees	Escorts	Total
1	Morton Hall (PH 1)	2	4,053,029	352,613	30,000	4,435,642
2	Morton Hall (PH 2)	2	3,131,387	272,431	25,000	3,428,818
3	Low Newton	1	2,580,675	226,850	54,000	2,861,525
4	Ashwell	1	2,262,766	198,904	30,000	2,491,670
5	Erlstoke	1	2,030,731	178,508	24,000	2,233,239
6	Guys Marsh	1	2,188,958	192,416	30,000	2,411,374
7	Blundeston	1	2,506,394	220,320	36,000	2,762,714
8	Ranby	2	4,792,236	421,171	70,875	5,284,282
9	Highpoint	2	4,715,530	415,656	48,000	5,179,186
10	Whatton	1	2,551,282	224,266	27,000	2,802,548
11	Albany	2	4,690,325	412,963	60,000	5,163,288
12	Acklington	1	2,339,727	210,194	34,500	2,584,421
13	Deerbolt	1	2,441,598	213,617	82,500	2,737,715
	Grand total	18	40,284,638	3,539,909	551,875	44,376,422

Notes:

These figures do not include local contracts, equipment and ancillaries.

The previous figures available to the NAO included some provisional estimates and contingencies and the above figures now reflect actual expenditure

Question 82 (Jon Trickett):   Evidence that the conviction rate for offences has increased.

  Recorded Crime has been falling from 5.9m in year ending Mar 04 to 5.5m in year ending Jun 05.

  Over the same period, numbers of convictions have fallen at a slower rate—and for the last few months have been relatively steady at around 690 thousand per year.

  The net effect is that the number of convictions per recorded crime (conviction rate) has steadily risen from 12.1% in 2003 to 12.5% at present.

Questions 87—92 (Jon Trickett):   Number of offenders moved into psychiatric hospital from prison per year.

  The number of prisoners transferred to hospital as restricted patients under sections 47 (sentenced) and 48 (unsentenced) of the Mental Health Act 1983 rose by 76% between 1991 and 1994 but thereafter remained relatively stable at an average of 745 each year until 1999. In 2003, the last year for which statistics have been published, 721 prisoners were transferred as restricted patients under those sections, a rise of 12% on the revised 2002 figure of 644.

Question 97 (Jon Trickett):   Number of children held in prison or in accommodation provided by the Prison Service in each of the last 10 years.

  The figures are given in the table below

ENGLAND AND WALES 30 JUNE

	1995	1996	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005
	1,675	2,093	2,479	2,466	2,422	2,434,	2,434	2,606	2,253	2,247	2,326

Question 99 (Jon Trickett):   As approximately half of those remanded into custody do not get a custodial sentence what would be the number of places saved if this did not happen?

  If we were able to eliminate remands in custody for those who are subsequently convicted but not given a custodial sentence then in theory we could save about 30% of the remand population ie about 3,900 based on the population at end June 2005. In practice, savings would be less than this because some of these cases might now attract a custodial sentence.

  The discussion at the hearing focused on area variation in remand decisions. There is published information on area variation on sentencing decisions but not on remand decisions (because the area data on remand decisions is not sufficiently robust). The 1,200 estimate given at the hearing assumes remands are reduced by 10% and that those remanded in custody spend 10% less time awaiting conviction and sentence.

Question 105 (Greg Clark):   What percentage of prisoners now attend 24 hours a week purposeful activity?

  Purposeful activity was introduced as Prison Service KPI in April 1993 and continued to be a Prison System Key Performance Indicator until the end of March 2005. The measure was dropped as a Key Performance Indicator as Ministers agreed that KPIs introduced recently in respect of education, rehabilitation and resettlement provide a better demonstration of the efforts to equip prisoners to be less likely to offend on release. However, Purposeful activity has been retained as a lower level Key Performance Target (KPT). Annual targets are set for each establishment and performance is regularly monitored at a local level.

  The range of activities defined as purposeful includes education, tackling substance abuse, anti bullying initiatives, pre release work, family visits and a range of work responsibilities within the prison and in prison farms and gardens. As it is possible for a number of prisoners to attend multiple activities, it is not possible to provide the percentage of prisoners attending purposeful activities. The Prison Service only collects information on the rate of activity per prisoner. At the end of November 2005, the rate of purposeful activity was 25.4 hours per prisoner per week.

  Performance ranged from 23.7 hours per week in 1992-93 to 23.4 hours in 2003-04. The highest number of hours was 26.2 in 1994-95.

TABLE SHOWING THE AVERAGE RATE OF PURPOSEFUL ACTIVITY ACROSS PRISON ESTABLISHMENTS—1992 TO DATE

Year	Activity rate
1992-93	23.7%
1993-94	24.7%
1994-95	26.2%
1995-96	25.2%
1996-97	23.8%
1997-98	23.3%
1998-99	22.8%
1999-00	23.2%
2000-01	23.8%
2001-02	23.4%
2002-03	22.6%
2003-04	23.4%
2004-05	24.3%
Jan-Nov 2005	25.4%

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Prepared 6 June 2006