asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bach on 29 October (WA 174) concerning the cost of holding a person in prison, why the cost of holding a person in prison in Northern Ireland differs to the extent it does from England and Wales. [HL6048]

There are a number of factors which will cause differences in prisoner costs, such as the category, size, age, and location of the prisons, the mix of prisoners and the internal regime and rehabilitation work followed. For example, in England and Wales the average cost per prisoner in a male dispersal prison (category A) is more than double the cost in a male open prison.

The Northern Ireland Prison Service is substantially smaller than that in England and Wales and the scope for benefiting from economies of scale is considerably less. Staffing levels are higher due to complexity and inefficient building designs. In addition, salaries are historically higher in Northern Ireland due to the management of terrorist prisoners. Steps are being taken to align salaries to those paid elsewhere.

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Further to the Written Answer by Lord Bach on 23 October (WA 131) concerning the ratios of prisoners to wardens in Northern Ireland and England, why the ratio is 3:1 in England and 1.13:1 in Northern Ireland. [HL6049]

The apparently large difference in the ratio of officers to prisoners is mainly due to the different classification of prison officers between the two jurisdictions. In Northern Ireland, a wider group of staff are classified as officers than in England.

If operational support grades are included along with officer grades to calculate the ratio for England the ratio falls to 2.2:1. The continuing differential is because the Northern Ireland Prison Service has not been able to benefit from economies of scale.