LIQUIDATION OF CARILLION AND THE PRISON ESTATE

That this House is concerned by the recent liquidation of Carillion leaving debts of around £900 million and notes the devastating impact this will have on thousands of workers across the UK; is aware that Carillion currently holds public and private partnership contracts worth over £1.7 billion which include the maintenance of almost half of prisons across the UK; is further concerned that reports dating back two years indicated consistently poor performance by Carillion in regards to prison maintenance; notes a report on living conditions by HMI Prisons in October 2017; further notes that Carillion has received almost £100 million in public funding for prison maintenance contracts since June 2015 including £39.8 million in 2017 alone; understands that the Prison Officers Association has long raised its concerns regarding these contracts indicating its dismay at the rapidly deteriorating living conditions for prisoners across the prison estate; notes the growing concerns of staff and inmates following the collapse of Carillion regarding the outsourcing of Governmental responsibility to ensure the effective maintenance of prisons; and therefore calls on the Government urgently to review private contractors working within the prison system and to bring all prison maintenance contracts back in-house as a matter of urgency.