asked Her Majesty's Government:

What plans they have for managing the rising prison population. [HL704]

NOMS is managing the pressure on the prison estate by building more capacity. In addition to current building programmes, 8,000 places were announced in the CJS review in July 2006. These places will be completed over the next six years through a mixture of expansions at existing prisons and building a number of new prisons.

The Government have outlined their commitment to provide custodial places for those serious, sexual and prolific offenders who need to be there and to ensure that courts have tough community sentences at their disposal to deal with less serious, non-violent offenders. There are people in our prisons who should not be there, including some foreign national prisoners, vulnerable women, and those with mental health issues.