PRIVATE FINANCE INITIATIVE AND PRISON PRIVATISATION

That this House welcomes the publication of the report The Private Finance Initiative and the Hidden Cost of Prison Privatisation by the Prison Officers Association (POA); notes that the report focuses on prisons commissioned under the Private Finance Initiative in England and Wales and the role of the private sector in operating prisons; further notes that this report has been published following the privatisation of the public sector prison HMP Birmingham; is concerned that since 1993 all new prisons opened in England and Wales have been procured through the Private Finance Initiative and that the Prison Service has not been allowed to bid for these contracts; understands that England and Wales have the most privatised criminal justice system in Europe; believes that the Private Finance Initiative model is more expensive to the taxpayer than public finance; and calls on the Government to re-examine the Private Finance Initiative model of running prisons.