Prisoners Transfers

Jenny Willott
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice how much his Department was invoiced for costs incurred relating to transferring prisoners between sites of secure accommodation in (a) each year since 2001 and (b) each month in 2007; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Hanson
Details of expenditure on inter-prison transfer and court escort services, including the daytime staffing of court facilities and docks in courts by escort contractors for each year since 2001 are set out in the following table:

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|       |£ million|
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|2001-02|105.1    |
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|2002-03|111.1    |
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|2003-04|116.1    |
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|2004-05|126.5    |
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|2005-06|140.7    |
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|2006-07|150.5    |
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Details of expenditure for the financial year 2007-08 on a monthly basis are as follows:

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|         |£ million|
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|April    |5.4      |
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|May      |4.8      |
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|June     |24.9     |
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|July     |13.3     |
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|August   |16.8     |
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|September|12.7     |
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Some of these payments do not necessarily relate to the months the actual costs were incurred.

Neither set of figures include costs of locally managed prisoner transfers. These are not recorded centrally.