Eight prisons could be taken over by private companies in the next year as part of the government’s public service reforms, the Ministry of Justice announced yesterday.
The plan to open up offender services to competition also includes the introduction of payment‑by‑results contracts for offender rehabilitation.
Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said that the plan, published in a report, Competition strategy for offender services, would provide ‘fair and open competition [that] will benefit providers from the public, private and voluntary and community sectors’.
This follows Prime Minister David Cameron’s announcement this week, when he launched the Open public services white paper, that he plans to make competition ‘the default in our public services’.
The prisons that will be opened up to competition are Lindholme, Moorland, Hatfield, Onley, Coldingley, Acklington, Castington and Durham. The first privately managed prison in the UK, The Wolds, will also be tendered as its contract is due to expire.
The MoJ said payment‑by‑results schemes would be developed in the next year, both in prisons and the community, with the aim of six being in place by 2015. This follows a trial at Doncaster prison, where private contractor Serco’s payments are based on a reduction in re-offending of prisoners serving less than a year.
Eventually, every service for offenders will be opened up unless there are compelling reasons not to, the MoJ said, including community service schemes in London and electronic monitoring services in England and Wales next year.
Although the strategy states that the organisations will be invited to ‘provide services where they can do so effectively and at a lower cost’, it adds that there might only be savings in the medium term. ‘This will not always mean the cheapest options. The competitions we run will use outcome-focused service specifications with agreed minimum acceptable service quality. This will deliver lasting value rather than short-term cost cutting.’
Frances Crook, the director of the Howard League for Penal Reform, warned that the plans could be ‘disastrous’.
She added: ‘The private sector is innately risk averse. Their pursuit for profit quashes any innovation in reducing reoffending and helping people turn their lives around.
‘Those going through the justice system, often presenting multiple and complex needs, are particularly complicated and those difficult to make a profit from will be excluded from the private sector’s plans, leaving the state sector to pick up the least economical and most difficult.’
But business leaders welcomed the strategy. CBI deputy director general Neil Bentley said: ‘This announcement will see open competition between a broad range of providers to run nine prisons, which will drive innovation and lead to improved prison services.
‘Independent studies have shown how competitive tendering in the prison service has delivered cost savings of more than 20%.’
