黑洞社区

Britain鈥檚 new-build prison programme will be run by the private sector as part of a range of measures to save public cash, the government has announced.

Outlining the ways in which it will try to reduce public sector costs as part of yesterday鈥檚 budget, the government pledged to privatise large parts of the country鈥檚 jail service.

The chancellor Alistair Darling has promised to cut this year鈥檚 borrowing total of 拢175bn, followed by 拢173bn in 2010/11, to 拢97bn in 2013/14. The savings will come from a mixture of public sector 鈥渆fficiencies鈥� and a reduction in capital expenditure, combined with a cash boost from a higher level of income tax for the highest earners.

The Public Value Programme, published yesterday, says the government will 鈥渆nsure that over the next three years, the National Offender Management Service will run a competition for the management of five existing prisons and that all new-build prisons will be built and managed by the private sector.鈥�

The news follows fears in the industry that the government鈥檚 ambitious prison-building programme would be scaled back as pressures to reduce public spending mount. Procurement of high-profile projects such as Featherstone, Belmarsh and Maghull have been beset by delays and the Ministry of Justice has pledged to cut programme costs by 10-20%.

The procurement route for the government鈥檚 three proposed Titan prisons has never been made clear. Last year, the government hinted the projects would be PFI but more recently there had been speculation they would be delivered under the prison framework.

The government is due to publish a response to the consultation on the planned 2,500-person prisons in coming weeks.