Written question asked by Lord Khan of Tooting (Labour) on Thursday, 16 December 2010, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 21 December 2010. It was answered by Crispin Blunt (Conservative) on Tuesday, 21 December 2010 on behalf of the Ministry of Justice.

Maghull Prison: Serco Group PLC

Question: (2) what estimate his Department made of the construction costs for Maghull Prison at the commencement of the project;

Answer: As financial close had yet to be reached on the contract to design, construct, manage and finance the proposed prison at Maghull, no contract cancellation charges are due.The cost of the contract for the proposed prison was £567 million, to be paid over a 26½ year period. The construction costs, which were included in the total contract cost, were estimated at around £95 million.A total of £16 million has been spent on the site since it was purchased in 1998. This includes site purchase costs, site security, obtaining planning consent and detailed planning permission, discharging the planning conditions and demolishing the buildings that were on site.Not proceeding with the project will save a total of £567 million in running costs. We are now likely to save around £14 million to £16 million more over the Spending Review Period than if we had decided to continue. This saving would have continued beyond this period at around £7 million to £9 million per year once the proposed prison had become operational.The cost of external professional advice (including legal, financial, insurance and technical advisors, as well as Partnerships UK), for the procurement of prisons at Maghull and Belmarsh West was about £2.4 million. As the tendering process for both prisons was run simultaneously, a breakdown of the cost of external professional advice for Maghull alone is not available.

Secondary information