12. Prisons—Prison PopulationHon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister of CorrectionsPrisons—Prison Population12. Hon DAVID BENNETT (National—Hamilton East) to the Minister of Corrections: Does he stand by all his statements and actions?Hon KELVIN DAVIS (Minister of Corrections): Yes in the context they were made.Hon David Bennett: Does he stand by his statement that he hadn't seen the forecasts when he made the announcement in relation to Waikeria Prison and if so why did he correct his answer three hours later to say he had seen dozens of reports on the forecast?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: We'd been working off the forecasts since late last year but I hadn't seen the report that was released last week.Hon David Bennett: If he had seen dozens of reports on the forecasts what does the November 2017 report say that the prison population will rise to in 2027 under the higher settings that are projected?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: If nothing else is done the figure will be 14399. But let's also just bear in mind that the forecast for this year is meant to be 11600. We're currently tracking over 1000 below that.Hon David Bennett: I'd like to just table the actual report which says—SPEAKER: Order! Not a chance. It's publicly available.Hon David Bennett: OK. How was the 900-bed increase estimated by the Department of Corrections due to the extra police included in the November 2017 report given these projections weren't created until months after the report was finished and that the report does not try to estimate or accommodate any subsequent announcements or future Government policies?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: In relation to the police projections the police gave advice to the Minister of Police Corrections gave different advice and what we're doing is hoping that the police are right but we're planning for the worst possible scenario.Hon David Bennett: When did the Minister approve the release of the report which was made publicly available on Saturday?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: I'm not responsible for releasing that report.Jami-Lee Ross: Mr Speaker I apologise for not being able to seek leave for this at the time of my question but I wish to seek leave to table a letter from Beattie Varley Ltd to the Ministry of Health relating to the review they undertook. If you may allow me Mr Speaker—SPEAKER: Give me the date.Jami-Lee Ross: 17 August 2017.SPEAKER: Is there any—[Interruption] No no the member—[Interruption] Order! The member will resume his seat. We've had a number of Speakers' rulings on this particular area. The member has covered the subject matter of it. The member has covered the date and who it's from. Is there any objection to that letter being tabled? There appears to be none. The member may table the letter.Jami-Lee Ross: Mr Speaker I was trying to explain to you there is a redaction in this letter for natural justice around two individuals that are former executives whose names are redacted from it because they're subject of the review around their salary transactions.SPEAKER: OK.Jami-Lee Ross: That is the case with the letter.Rt Hon Winston Peters: That should have been told to us beforehand.SPEAKER: No no. Order! To be fair to the member I did interrupt him. Now we have all the facts I will put the question again. Is there any objection to it being tabled? There appears to be none still.Document by leave laid on the Table of the House.SPEAKER: Any further supplementaries?Hon David Bennett: Yes.SPEAKER: David Bennett. We're going back to question 12.Hon David Bennett: So when the Minister said that the Department of Corrections had made its own estimate for the number of increased beds that would be required as a result of the increase in police numbers what is that number of increase in beds that the Department of Corrections has estimated and when will he release that report?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: The projected capacity for 2027 including the Corrections and police numbers is 15049.Hon David Bennett: That figure of 15049—what year is that based on?SPEAKER: Well the member just told him.Hon David Bennett: He didn't.SPEAKER: Well the member just said exactly that.Hon Gerry Brownlee: No he didn't.SPEAKER: Well can I check. Did the member say 2027?Hon Kelvin Davis: Yeah.SPEAKER: He did.Hon David Bennett: In 2027 the Minister has said the total number will be 15049. Where does that reconcile with any justice sector projections which say that the number is much higher than that?Hon KELVIN DAVIS: The justice sector predictions don't say it's higher. But what we're also saying is that these forecasts—the previous Government treated them as targets and their target was just to keep building prison after prison after prison. We're treating them as warnings and we're doing something about it.