MP, The Minister of State,
Ministry of Justice (Penrith and The Border, Conservative), today
replied to an Urgent Question by Labour's Rochard Burgon on HMP
Birmingham.
said the situation at
Birmingham HMP was shocking and unacceptable. The government had
been increasingly concerned about G4S’s inability to turn around
the situation and notices to improve had been made and meetings
held with the governor. It had been concluded G4S would not be
able to turn around the situation so the decision had been made
to take the unprecedented step of the government taking over
control.
The minister appreciated this could become a debate about the
merits of privatisation, but the government did not think this
was an ideological battle. The situation at Birmingham had been
serious for some time, going back to the last Labour government.
G4S had clearly failed at Birmingham. But at the same time they
were running impressive prisons at Parc, Altcourse and Oakwood.
The basic problems were with drugs, violence and management and
it was on these issues that the government would be focussing on,
at no cost to the taxpayer.
, Shadow Justice Secretary,
contested that the costly experiment with privatisation should be
ended. One of the great failings was that Parliament struggled to
hold mega-corporations like G4S to account because of the ‘cloak
of commercial confidentiality.’ He called on a financial penalty
to be imposed on G4S and for the government to commit to an
independent commission to look into the merits of handing
Birmingham prison back to G4S. He also said G4S should not be
allowed to bid for future private prison contracts.
said the cost to G4S would be
considerable as a result of the government stepping in. G4S would
have to pay for the entire cost of the step-in, not the taxpayer.
It was not necessary to have an independent commission because it
was already well understood what happened at Birmingham. The
question about G4S bidding for future contracts was hypothetical,
“but we will, of course, in accordance with all our rules, look
very seriously at companies including G4S, their past record and
performance, before considering them for a tender.”
, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge
Hill, said he has a constituent who had twice been beaten up in
Birmingham prison. “It is hard to square a future where this
prison is returned to G4S with the level of investment and
staffing which is to ensure that Birmingham is a safe prison.”
The Minister gave an assurance that the prison would be taken
over for a minimum of six months after which “we will be very
clear and tough about the decision we reach as to whether the
prison is stable enough to be handed back to G4S.”
, Labour MP for Garston and
Halewood, asked for an assurance that if the prison was handed
back to G4S that they didn't cut the staffing levels. The
Minister said it was important to ensure that staff/prisoner
ratios were respected.
The full proceedings will be sent as soon as they are
available
