MoJ drops new prison as cuts begin to bite

The MoJ has abandoned plans to build a new juvenile prison in Leicester and postponed construction of a new Birimingham Magistrates Court as part of the £325m package of cuts announced last week.

The cuts, the MoJ's contribution to £6.2bn savings in public spending promised by chancellor George Osborne, target building projects, computer programmes, recruitment and inefficiency (see solicitorsjournal.com 24 May 2010).

Legal aid was not mentioned, but the fate of Lord Bach's £360m criminal legal aid cuts, unveiled earlier this year, is unclear.

Prisons and probation minister Crispin Blunt said cancelling the construction of a new 360 place juvenile prison at Glen Parva reflected the falling number of juveniles in custody and a cheaper, equivalent number of adult places would instead be provided. Glen Parva, now closed, was built as a borstal in the 1970s.

'Meeting the demands of the prison capacity programme more efficiently allows us to play our part in contributing savings to reduce the budget deficit,' Blunt said.

'The number of juveniles in custody is falling so it makes financial sense for us to boost the adult prison capacity by increasing the number of prison places available on existing sites '“ an alternative that provides substantially better value for the taxpayer.

'This government is committed to reforming the youth justice system to ensure reoffending rates are as low as possible while also dealing with serious offenders.'

Legal aid and civil justice minister Jonathan Djanogly said existing facilities at Victoria Law Courts in Birmingham would continue to be used 'with value for money improvements being made where necessary'.

'The government is committed to ensuring that court users, especially victims and witnesses, are treated with dignity and respect,' he said.

'However, whilst the government is determined to improve efficiency in the Courts Service, like all public services, plans to build new facilities are dependent on the budget it is allocated.

'We have therefore decided to defer this project until we are sure it is affordable as we want to play our part in contributing savings to reduce the budget deficit.'