To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to acquire prison ships; how much he has allocated to that purpose; what the timetable is for such provision becoming operational; and how many prison places they will provide. (178767)

The Ministry of Justice will launch a competition for a prison ship. The current prison building programme, implementing the recommendations published by Lord Carter of Coles on 5 December 2007, assumes that a facility providing over 400 places will be available in late 2009.