Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they provide (1) funding, and (2) other support to prisons to run arts and literacy programmes; if so, what; and how they assess the impact of such programmes.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance is part-funded through the Ministry of Justice grant to CLINKS. Whilst there is no separate budget to fund arts and literacy programmes, such activity has for many years been funded at local level through prison education budgets. Both the new education commissioning routes available to governors from 1 April make explicit provision for arts, literacy and other cultural activity as a means of engaging prisoners in learning. The activity also enables progression to higher levels, develops human and social capital, and improves life skills, employability and wellbeing, thereby helping to prevent re-offending.
In 2016, ‘Arts, culture and innovation in criminal justice settings: a guide for commissioners’, published by the National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance, set out and summarised a growing body of evidence that demonstrates the positive impact of the arts in criminal justice settings in engaging, motivating and providing opportunities for people to develop new skills, as well as discover new ways of behaving and relating to others. On Friday 22 March 2019, the Ministry of Justice published a tool which arts organisations can use to measure the intermediate outcomes from activity they deliver within the criminal justice system. This will support them in demonstrating their effectiveness to commissioners.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many local housing authorities have made use of the powers contained in the Housing Act 2004 relating to Empty Dwelling Management Orders in each of the last ten years.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
HM Courts & Tribunals Service does not hold information on how many local authorities have used interim Empty Dwelling Management Orders which have been authorised by the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many, and what proportion of, prison service establishments have a library with facilities to use and exchange books.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
All prisons in England and Wales have a library with the facility to use and exchange books.
Prisons should be places of safety and reform, and it is vital we use the time in prison productively. Having basic English skills helps people get jobs on release and helps them lead law abiding lives, and I am determined to make sure that we achieve better outcomes for all prisoners.
Asked by: Lord Bird (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to encourage social enterprise opportunities in the adult and juvenile prison systems.
Answered by Lord Keen of Elie - Shadow Minister (Justice)
The Government is committed to making prisons work, so that offenders come out of prison better able to find work and support their families, and less likely to reoffend.
Governors are responsible for deciding whether social enterprise opportunities are the best option for offenders in their prisons. We have taken steps to empower governors so they have freedom over internal levers and polices to increase employment opportunities, and we will hold them to account for the outcomes achieved. We will also give governors control of education budgets so they are able to choose their education provider. Education providers in YOIs also have contracted responsibilities to work alongside Governors to identify suitable education, training and employment pathways and to work with organisations in communities to realise opportunities for young people leaving custody.