Prisoners: Literacy
(asked on 30th November 2017) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what comparative assessment he has made of (a) current levels and (b) levels 10 years ago of illiteracy among those serving a prison sentence.
The government introduced mandatory testing of prisoners’ levels of maths and English in August 2014. There is no comparable data prior to that. Prisoners are tested on reception to custody and, since 1 August 2017, we also test prisoners when they move between establishments and on release.
The table below sets out data on assessed levels of English on reception:
Academic year: | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | ||
| Number | % | Number | % |
Education assessments in English | 72,680 |
| 62,230 |
|
of which … |
|
|
|
|
Entry Level 1 | 5,760 | 7.9% | 4,620 | 7.4% |
Entry Level 2 | 9,630 | 13.2% | 9,770 | 15.7% |
Entry Level 3 | 21,620 | 29.7% | 21,050 | 33.8% |
Level 1 | 25,850 | 35.6% | 18,560 | 29.8% |
Level 2 | 9,340 | 12.9% | 6,340 | 10.2% |
Not known | 890 | 1.2% | 2,410 | 3.9% |
The Department for Education has not yet published data for the 2016/17 academic year.
Entry Level 3 would be the level expected of an 11-year old: in the 2015/16 academic year, 57% of prisoners were at or below that level in English.
We are empowering prison governors, enabling them to tailor education and training in their establishment to the needs of their prisoners. Our core common curriculum of maths, English, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) and ICT will be available in every prison. We will shortly announce which Awarding Organisations’ qualifications will be used in these subjects, ensuring continuity of learning as prisoners move through the system.
The results of our new tests on transfer or release will enable us to hold governors to account for prisoners’ progress in English and in maths.