MCINNES REVEALS SEVERE DELAYS TO NEW GRAMPIAN PRISON

12.00.00am GMT Fri 29th Jan 2010

Alison reveals servere delays to new Grampian Prison

Alison McInnes, Liberal Democrat MSP for the North East, has revealed severe delays to the programme for the new prison, HMP Grampian.

Answers to Parliamentary Questions reveal that the Scottish Government has not applied for planning permission and that contracts for construction won't be put out for tender until permission has been granted. But the Government's own Infrastructure Investment Plan promised that the procurement of HMP Grampian would be in 2008-09, with construction taking from 2010 until 2013.

A further answer reveals that construction is not anticipated to begin until 2012.

Commenting, Mrs McInnes said:

"This is simply not good enough. After the damning official report into HMP Aberdeen's facilities in late 2008, I wrote to the Justice Secretary calling for urgent improvements to the workshops to make sure that offenders could be properly rehabilitated.

"The Prison Service's response was to refuse to make any such improvements as the north east would soon have a new prison.

"But answers to my Parliamentary Questions show that the project is now likely to be badly delayed. The Scottish Government needs to explain why it's dragging its feet.

"The North East is struggling on with substandard facilities and it's simply not good enough."

Ends.