Provision of 'Safer' Cells at HM Prison.

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A decision made (20/12/2007) regarding: Provision of 'Safer' Cells at HM Prison.

Decision Reference: MD-HA-2007-0085
Decision Summary Title :	HM Prison – Provision of ‘Safer’ Cells		Date of Decision Summary:	20 December 2007
Decision Summary Author:	Liz Middleton Finance Director		Decision Summary: Public or Exempt?	Public
Type of Report: Oral or Written?	Written		Person Giving Oral Report:
Written Report Title :	HM Prison – Provision of ‘Safer’ Cells		Date of Written Report:	14 September 2007
Written Report Author:	Liz Middleton Finance Director		Written Report : Public or Exempt?	3.2 (a) (xiv)
Subject: Provision of ‘Safer’ Cells at HM Prison.
Decision(s): The Minister agreed to seek the approval of the Treasury and Resources Minister, in accordance with Section 5.9 of Financial Direction 3.6, Variations to Heads of Expenditure, for a temporary budget transfer from an existing capital budget to be replenished from the prison future capital budgets in order to fund the provision of ‘Safer’ Cells.
Reason(s) for Decision: Following the reports by the Prison and Probation Ombudsman of England and Wales into the two deaths in custody that occurred in 2006 and early 2007, it was identified that the prison lacked adequate ‘safer’ cell provision. As funding is not available for this project a temporary budget transfer is required from an existing capital budget in order to allow this urgent work to progress.
Resource Implications: None in the short term. The status of all existing prison capital projects will be reviewed along with the capital projects detailed in the Draft Annual Business Plan 2008. (The relevant details of the 2010 Capital Programme can be found on pages 157 and 158 of the Annex to the Draft Annual Business Plan 2008 which notes that ‘a revision of the master planning programme for works beyond phase 3 is scheduled for later in 2007, which may require some reprioritisation of those schemes for which ‘in principle’ agreement is sought.’)
Action required: The Finance Director to pass the request to the Treasury and Resources Department for consideration by the Treasury and Resources Minister.
Signature:		Position: Minister for Home Affairs
Date Signed:		Date of Decision (If different from Date Signed):