Press Release - National Offender Management Service:
Maintenance of the prison estate in England and Wales
21 May 2009
The National Offender Management Service
Executive Agency (NOMS) has obtained good value for money from its
expenditure on prison maintenance, the National Audit Office has
today reported. In spite of an increasing prisoner population –
over 73,000 people held in custody in public sector prisons in
England & Wales in 2007-08 – spending has been kept at around
£320 million in recent years. Nevertheless, the Agency Service
could improve its plans for maintaining assets over their economic
life and how it manages risks to the effective utilisation of its
assets.
The eight prisons visited by the NAO were
sufficiently well maintained to preserve physical security,
prisoner capacity, and prisoner and staff safety. The
increasing prisoner population, frequent overcrowding and a high
turnover of prisoners create substantial pressures on the estate.
In its maintenance of the estate, the Agency has introduced
procedures aimed at improving the handover of major maintenance
projects from external contractors and to assess the future
maintenance costs of refurbished or replacement assets.
The Agency has scope to improve the way it
plans major prison maintenance. Currently, the Agency defers
approved maintenance works if funds are no longer available.
Pressures on prisoner population can also delay maintenance work
because of the lack of alternative cell spaces.
NOMS needs to analyse the type, number and
location of maintenance works it carries out to help control
spending on maintenance and plan future works. The Agency should
develop long-term plans for maintaining equipment and other assets
over their economic life. It could also use more common and
standardised parts, materials, fixtures and fittings, to bring cost
savings to maintenance works.
Tim Burr, head of the National Audit Office,
said today:
“NOMS is maintaining the
prison estate well and is obtaining value for money in how it does
so. But there are areas to improve: the Agency needs a better
understanding of the costs of planned works; it should standardise
more spare parts and materials; and understand better the right
time to switch from maintaining an old asset to buying new. Once
these measures are in place it will help the Agency plan
maintenance work, and control finances, more
effectively.”
Notes for Editors:
-
In May 2007, the Government created the
Ministry of Justice. A subsequent review resulted in
organisational changes effective from 1 April 2008
including the formation of the National Offender Management
Service Executive Agency (the Agency). The Agency combined
large parts of the former National Offender Management Service
headquarters, HM Prison Service and the National Probation Service
into one body. It aims to deliver more effective offender
management and to strengthen and streamline commissioning of
services for offenders from the public, private and third tier
sectors, with the goal of improving efficiency and
effectiveness. The Agency, through HM Prison Service (the
Prison Service), operates and maintains a large and complex estate
of 129 prisons in England and Wales.
-
Press notices and reports are available from
the date of publication on the NAO website, which is at
www.nao.org.uk. Hard copies can be obtained
from The Stationery Office on 0845 702 3474.
-
The Comptroller and Auditor General, Tim Burr,
is the head of the National Audit Office which employs some 850
staff. He and the NAO are totally independent of
Government. He certifies the accounts of all Government
departments and a wide range of other public sector bodies; and he
has statutory authority to report to Parliament on the economy,
efficiency and
Press Notice 32/09
All enquiries to
Mark Anderson, NAO Press Office:
Tel: 020 7798 7558
Mobile: 07796 937
119