Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment has he made of the potential impact of reduced funding for the prison education service on prisoner outcomes.

The Ministry of Justice is committed to supporting prisoners’ rehabilitation through educational activities. The national funding for prison education has not been reduced; it increased by 3% this financial year. However, inflationary pressures across education services have affected the proportion of the overall budget that can be directed to Core Education contracts. This has resulted in a national reduction of around 20-25% in Core Education delivery. This reduction is not uniform across the estate, and variation is due to an updated education funding formula, which ensures prison allocations more accurately reflect prison function, capacity and learner need.

Governors continue to have flexibility to commission the education that best meets the needs of their population, and the wider educational offer, such as vocational training in industries settings, further and higher education, libraries, and Careers, Information, Advice and Guidance remain in place. We are also working closely with Governors to maximise attendance at education to ensure best value for money and the best outcomes for prisoners. We will monitor delivery and outcomes through contract management and a full evaluation of the new Prisoner Education Service.

Suppliers as part of their mobilisation activities have reviewed their organisational structures to ensure that these are responsive to the commissioned delivery requirements, which unfortunately has led to some redundancies. Suppliers are working to support their employees through this period of change. Specific figures relating to the number of redundancies are held by suppliers, rather than the Ministry of Justice.