asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the cost of building Her Majesty's Prison, Albany, to its original specification; and what has been the cost since then of raising the security at Albany to the standards required for dispensing category A prisoners there, including the costs of modifications to security since it became a dispersal prison and following the 1973 review of the dispersal policy.

The cost of building Albany Prison, which was opened in 1967, was £1·2 million, excluding staff quarters. The estimated cost of the subsequent security improvements is £1·6 million. In addition, a system of electric locking, providing night sanitation, was installed in 1972 at a cost of £300,000 and is scheduled for improvement at an estimated cost of £160,000.