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Prisons: Carter Review

My Lords, my right honourable friend the Minister for Prisons will issue a Statement tomorrow on the Government’s response to the report by my noble friend Lady Corston, which will be very important. On the question of reoffending and rehabilitation programmes, the implementation of the report of my noble friend Lord Carter in the way that we have outlined will give us the best foundation for ensuring the best use of resources, making sure that the money for running prisons is spent as effectively as possible and also having the resources to invest in the very programmes that the noble Baroness is keen, as I am, to see developed. The greater the stability and certainty about being able to provide the right number of prison places, the better the foundation for doing all the other things that we want to do to improve the outcome for prisoners.