To ask the Secretary of State for Justice from what budget the funding for (a) the 8,000 new prison places announced by the previous Secretary of State for the Home Department and (b) the 1,500 new prison places announced by the previous Lord Chancellor will be drawn. (171184)

The new prison places will be funded from the capital and resource budgets (as appropriate) of the National Offender Management Service, within the Ministry of Justice overall allocations. The 8,000 places are due to be delivered by 2012 and as such some of the funding falls after the Comprehensive Spending Review 2007 (CSR07) period. 500 of the 1,500 places fall within the CSR07 period. The optimum timing and composition of the further 1,000 places will be considered in the light of the Carter report.