Written question asked by Paul Stinchcombe (Labour) on Thursday, 26 June 2003, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 July 2003. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Monday, 7 July 2003 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of GDP was spent on prisons in (a) 1973, (b) 1981, (c) 1991 and (d) 2001; and what the expenditure was on prisons in real terms in each of those years. - Inc table.

Answer: Mr. Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what proportion of GDP was spent on prisons in (a) 1973, (b) 1981, (c) 1991 and (d) 2001; and what the expenditure was on prisons in real terms in each of those years. [122969] Paul Goggins: The following table provides the information requested, for 1973, 1981, 1991 and 2001 and is based on Prison service costs. Because of changes over the years in the way that the Prison service's costs have been funded and measured, these figures will not be exactly comparable with each other. The level of expenditure in 1990-91 reflects an increased capital spend on new prisons at that time. In recent years such costs have been met through private finance initiative (PFI) contracts, with the capital costs being repaid over a long period. Prison service costs as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. GDP (£ million) Prison service (£ million) Financial year Cash Real terms 2001-02 Cash Real terms 2001-02 Percentage 1972-73 67,167 534,372 78.3 623.0 0.12 1980-81 236,486 592,111 403.5 1,010.3 0.17 1990-91 563,735 773,611 1,341.5 1,840.9 0.24 2000-01 962,613 986,682 1,794.7 1,839.6 0.19 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Note: Prison service costs include current and capital expenditure.

Secondary information