PERFORMANCE OF PRIVATE PRISONS

That this House notes with interest the Prison Service internal league tables demonstrating that 10 out of the 11 prisons managed by the private sector are in the bottom quarter of the weighted scorecard used to measure the overall performance of prisons; further notes that prisons run by the public sector consistently and significantly out-perform those that are privately managed, which have a particularly poor record at maintaining order and security; believes that this demonstrates that marketisation is not the route to delivering better services across the public sector; and urges the Government to reaffirm the public service ethos as central to the improvement of public service provision.