Asked by
To ask His Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of
the potential merits of bringing the delivery of prison education
into the public sector.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Justice
() (Con)
My Lords, core education in prisons is delivered by four
providers: three classified as public sector providers and one as
a private sector provider. Wider, non-core prison education is
delivered by a range of suppliers, including the third sector. We
are engaging with the market to encourage new providers to work
with us to deliver high-quality prison education. We do not
currently envisage fundamental change to the present system of
outsourcing core delivery to specialist education providers.
(Lab)
Does the Minister agree with me, Charlie Taylor and the Education
Select Committee that education is fundamental to rehabilitation,
so the fact that current providers do not have teaching prisoners
to read as their responsibility is staggering? Can the Minister
agree to look, at least, at the launch of the prisoner education
service as an opportunity to bring all prison education back into
the public sector, with standardised curriculum and
qualifications, which are so important when prisoners are moved,
and standardised education staff contracts to assist with
recruitment and retention?
(Con)
I thank the noble Baroness for her question. The Government
entirely agree that prison education is vital for rehabilitation.
In the Government’s view, it does not follow that education,
particularly in relation to reading, should be brought back into
what the noble Baroness describes as the public sector.
Specifically on reading, I can report the Chief of Inspector of
Prisons’ remarks of yesterday. Following his report last year, he
considers that we are seeing some improvement in reading and that
there are encouraging signs of good developing practice in
relation to reading education in prisons.
(CB)
My Lords, as a member of the Justice and Home Affairs Committee,
I know that the Minister has recognised the huge importance of
prison education. Have His Majesty’s Government assessed the
potential benefits of doubling the prison education budget, and,
in particular, have they assessed the impact of such a policy
shift on reoffending rates?
(Con)
My Lords, the Government currently spend about £125 million a
year on the core programme and a further £30 million on special
development strategies. In relation to the future, we are
developing new contracts from 2025, and I am sure the question of
the budget will arise in that context.
(Con)
My Lords, the noble Baroness, Lady Blower, made the point about
rehabilitation being so vital. Can my noble and learned friend
publish statistics to show the variable reoffending rates between
those who do not get qualifications and various other things from
education in prison, and those who do? I think this could be very
interesting and salutary information.
(Con)
My Lords, the Government are committed to improving the
statistics in this area, and I will investigate whether we can
publish that further information.
(LD)
My Lords, the best education in the world, public or private, is
useless if there are not the staff there to enable prisoners to
get out of their cells to receive it. But if they could, the
education service has been carved up by just four main providers,
and governors have little or no say in who delivers education in
their prisons. The House of Commons Education Committee report
has already been mentioned. What are the Government going to do
about this issue?
(Con)
Staffing levels are a continuing problem, but full-time
equivalent prison officers have increased by 3,677 between 2016
and December 2022; it now stands at 21,632. In the Government’s
view, there is no problem with the quality of our existing
providers. The challenges of prison education are evident to all,
and the Government are doing their best to tackle them.
(Lab)
My Lords, when I conducted the review into self-inflicted deaths
in prison some years ago, a very substantial issue arose about
the cancellation of education sessions simply because there were
insufficient staff to transport prisoners to education venues
within prisons or, alternatively, because prisons were locked
down. What proportion of education sessions do not go ahead for
the reasons I have described? If those statistics are not
collected, could the Minister explain why this rather important
performance indicator is not looked at?
(Con)
My Lords, I cannot give the noble Lord the information he rightly
seeks, but I will see if I can. Attendance at classes is an
ongoing issue. It is sometimes due to staff shortages. We have
introduced new KPIs for prison governors which include
attendance, among other things, so I hope to see improvement in
this area.
(Con)
My Lords, would the Minister agree that a vital part of prison
education is to help former offenders into gainful employment at
the end of their sentence? A number of businesses such as
Timpson, under the inimitable Sir John Timpson, have done
pioneering work in this field to help prevent recidivism. What
more can the Minister do with his department to encourage other
firms to follow Timpson’s example?
(Con)
My Lords, I entirely agree with my noble friend in paying tribute
to Timpson. There are many other employers with which we are in
close touch. The Prison Service has recently introduced prison
employment advisory boards in all prisons and an employment
innovation fund, and heads of education, skills and work will be
established across the prison estate. This is all to improve
post-prison employment, which is, I am glad to say, on the
increase.
(LD)
My Lords, would the Minister agree that prisoners have probably
the highest density of special educational needs of any group in
society? All these groups need different learning patterns
compared to the norm to be successful. Is the prison education
service equipped to, first, identify and, secondly, provide the
extra different types of learning to this client base? If not, it
is not going to succeed.
(Con)
I agree with the noble Lord that the Prison Service needs to be
equipped, and I respectfully suggest that it is. There are a
whole range of things here. There is the core curriculum, which
is made up of English, maths and digital skills; vocational
courses, such as construction; personal development courses; and
digital personal learning plans. I assure the House that the
Government are on the case and working hard to improve matters.
(Lab)
My Lords, the Open University offers a range of introductory
access modules funded by the Prisoners’ Education Trust, under
the banner of “Steps to Success”. They have been specifically
designed to help students find out what it is like to study with
the OU, get a taste of a subject area, develop study skills and
build confidence. As a former teacher, I can tell your Lordships
that those things are vital. Does the prison estate have the
facilities to offer such excellent distance learning, and who
would meet the cost of these courses that are on offer?
(Con)
My Lords, there is a problem within the prison estate in relation
to distance learning from external providers, because most
prisons do not have external access to the internet. There is an
intranet, and it may well be that in due course organisations
like the Open University are encouraged to access that facility.
But I take the noble Baroness’s question and will investigate
further.
(CB)
My Lords, I am sure the noble and learned Lord knows about the
Clink Charity, which sets up restaurants in prisons where
prisoners are taught by chefs and then serve meals to the general
public. If any noble Lords do not know about this, I urge them to
go to the one in Brixton. These now have a 49.6% rate of lowering
reoffending, because prisoners come out with a job and a skill
and somewhere to sleep, which is arranged. This all depends on
the good will of the governors. Can the Minister assure the House
that he will encourage such projects? I think there are seven
now, but there could be many more.
(Con)
My Lords, the answer is yes. Prison governors are now
specifically required to have regard to developing employment
opportunities for those in prison, attendance rates at courses
and other matters. I pay tribute to Clink, which is a very
well-known and respected organisation. Similar programmes are
being offered by other employers, and this is all, I respectfully
suggest, good progress.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords—
(Lab)
My Lords—
(Con)
My Lords, it is the turn of the noble Baroness, Lady Fox.
(Non-Afl)
My Lords, in my experience with broader education projects such
as Debating Matters Beyond Bars, I have found that private sector
prisons can be more flexible and less bureaucratic than some
state-run prisons. Does the Minister agree that we should focus
less on who provides prison education and that education should
be given far more priority? Does he also agree that prison
education should not be limited to literacy, as it often is, but
should be far more imaginative?
(Con)
My Lords, the Government regard prison education with high
priority and are working to improve its imaginative and
innovative aspects all the time.
