To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what the cost was of providing healthcare in each (a) publicly and (b) privately administered prison in each of the last four ears; and what the per prison costs were in each prison. [102667]

Information is not available in the form requested, as costs of health care have not been identified separately in the past. A report b the Joint Prison Service and National Health Service Executive Working Group "The Future Organisation of Prison Health Care" in 1999, estimated that that Prison Service establishments spent about £85 million on prisoners' health care in 1997–98. A questionnaire completed by establishments in 2002–03 estimated that the cost of healthcare in English prison establishments in 2002–03 was about £113 million, although these two figures are not directly comparable. The following is a breakdown of questionnaire returns by prison establishment. For private prisons, payments are made for the contracted service and the health care element is not separately identified.