Prisons, colleges and courts the big losers

Published on Thursday 18 November 2010 17:30

CONSTRUCTION of new prisons, college buildings and courts are among the projects set to be delayed or cancelled as a result of the cuts announced by Scottish ministers earlier this week.

Plans for new jails in the west of Scotland and in the Highlands are set to be pushed further back after ministers indicated earlier this week that they could no longer afford to build them in the near future.

Plans to redevelop Scotland's criminal courts have also been scrapped.

There was also uncertainty last night about when a raft of new college buildings would be built, including Glasgow's City Centre College, as it was confirmed they would now be funded largely with a new "non profit" finance model, and not from the Scottish Government's own account.

The moves came as an analysis by the Fraser of Allander institute yesterday listed prisons, the courts and colleges as the biggest losers in the Scottish Government's capital budget, which pays for infrastructure projects across the country.

The Fraser of Allander report shows that the Scottish Prison Service's budget has fallen by 65 per cent, the Higher and Further Education budget by 56 per cent and the Scottish Court Service's budget by 48 per cent.

The Scottish Government's budget documents warned earlier this week that, without effective action, "the speed and scale of reductions in capital spending will require some projects to be delayed or cancelled, even when they are in progress."

The SPS said last night that, despite the huge fall in its own budget, current renovations at jails in Shotts and Low Moss would continue next year. It also said that plans for a new Grampian jail remained unaffected, as construction work is not expected to begin until after 2012.

However, the likely long-term reductions in spending mean that the SPS will have to undertake new building works one at a time, meaning that projects down the line will be pushed further back.

New projects likely to be affected include the replacement of HMP Greenock and HMP Inverness, sources said last night. The timing of construction work on new college buildings, such as a new 200m Glasgow City Centre College, and improvements to Kilmarnock and Inverness Colleges, were also in doubt.

Under previous plans, the projects were to be paid for using public funds, but ministers announced on Wednesday that the projects would instead be funded using a "non profit" finance model which accesses private capital.

Work on the projects was expected to commence next year, but there were no details last night from the Scottish Government as to when the new funding plans would be up and running.

However, the Scottish Government said that current upgrades to Further and Higher Education institutions would continue despite the huge cuts in budgets.

A spokesman for the Scottish Prison Service added: "We were expecting a cut next year anyway."