Prison Education Review

(asked on 12th December 2022) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 1 December 2022 to Question 94773 on Prison Education Review, which providers have been paid from the budget of the Dynamic Purchasing System in each prison in the most recent accounting period.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 19th December 2022

The Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) is designed to enable governors to commission innovative, local projects that meet the needs of their prisoners. The budget for the DPS in 2022-23 is £21.8 million. Allocation of the education budget is based on Prisoner population and the role of the individual prison. Governors have authority to move education funds between the Prison Education Framework (PEF) and the DPS pots on an annual basis, up to 5 per cent of the PEF contract value. The overall spend this financial year to date is £11.3 million, against the year-to-date budget of £12.6 million.

As these services involve local spending plans and courses commissioned, we do not keep central records of what each prison commissions, and it would not be possible to obtain the information requested on a prison-by-prison basis without approaching each prison individually, which would incur disproportionate cost.

95 suppliers are currently delivering DPS services, which include: Catering & Hospitality; Construction, Cleaning and Facilities Management; Engineering & Manufacturing Technologies; Retail & Commercial Enterprise; Health & Public Services and Care; Business, Leadership, Administration and Law; Arts, Media and Publishing; Agriculture, Horticulture and Animal Care; Sport, Leisure, Travel and Tourism; Information and Communication Technology (additional to the core curriculum); Life Skills; Services to support individuals with additional learning needs; Resettlement; Preparation for Work, Careers Information Advice and Guidance.

The success and value for money of local commissioning is evaluated at local level, with support from the central contract management team. For larger DPS contracts, additional assurance processes are put in place by the contract management team. In addition to the contract management process, DPS provision is subject to OFSTED scrutiny, as are PEF and Prison Education provision.

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