To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what plans he has to ensure adequate capacity in the prison system. (263759)

The Government have a duty to protect the public from the most serious, dangerous and persistent offenders. Prison is the right place for these people and we will always make sure that we have enough places for these offenders.

The expansion of our building programme following the Carter Review will see a net 15,000 places delivered, expanding capacity to around 96,000 places by 2014.