Themost realistic time that slopping out can be ended is about a year after thecompletion of the second of the two new prisons that were announced by the Executive on 5 September 2002 as part of its decisions on the prison estates review.A firm date cannot be given because a number of variable factors are involved;including future trends in prisoner numbers, issues affecting the timescale forcompletion of the new prisons such as the obtaining of planning permission, andthe need to make arrangements for decanting and moving prisoners to allowexisting accommodation to be improved.