This chapter summarises what can be said, on the basis of the evidence reviewed, on the questions:

• • Has competition been worthwhile?

• • How well has government managed competition?

Has competition been worthwhile?

Better service?

• • There has been no significant, consistent difference in the overall performance of the two sectors, though there are several findings favouring the contracted sector, and none the reverse. There is some tentative evidence for differences in prison culture, with the contracted sector better on ‘respect’ and the public sector on ‘safety’, but it unclear how significant this is, and whether generalised or sustained.

• • Both sectors grappled with really serious problems at some prisons in the late 1990s and early 2000s, though with quite different origins – the start-up of new prisons with inexperienced staff, tight staffing levels and often very high turnover in the private sector, and in the public sector, the exposure of longstanding deficiencies in decent conditions, treatment and facilities, mainly in big, old locals.

• • Both sectors improved performance during the later 2000s, with very few prisons in serious difficulty.

• • But performance of both sectors started falling away again from 2010, possibly linked to spending and staffing cuts.

Can costs be compared?

• • There are big obstacles to comparing cost. There is almost no information about comparative operating costs on a proper like-for-like basis. The last published data, from 1998–99, now appears doubtful and anyway did not cover PFI prisons, which now account for 12 out of 16 contracted prisons. Government has shown an extraordinary lack of interest in properly evaluating, and publishing, relative costs.

• • Public sector costs have been consistently underreported. The unfunded Civil Service Pension Scheme means the true cost of prison service pensions is not known, and cannot be known; by extension, the true cost of public sector prisons cannot be known. There is a persuasive case that contributions have been set far too low to adequately fund future liabilities and that at least 10% should be added to the cost of public sector prisons over this period to reflect this. Pension costs are now the biggest cost difference between sectors, but have been disregarded in recent competitions. Nevertheless, they are real, and the tax payer pays the shortfall.