Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department is taking to encourage inmates to take up distant learning courses while in prison.

We are committed to making prisons places of rehabilitation and reform. Education in prisons remains focused on giving prisoners the skills and qualifications they will need to secure jobs on release. Most prisoners who study Higher Education (HE) in custody do so through the Open University (OU) via distance learning. Eligible prisoners have access to Tuition Fee loans to support their studies.

Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) works collaboratively with the OU to help prisoners undertake HE. The prison Virtual Campus e-learning platform includes a range of OU courses, enabling prisoners to receive a similar learning experience to that of their mainstream peers.

Many students in prison begin their OU studies with an Access module studied through distance learning which is funded by HMPPS via the Prisoners Education Trust’s (PET) ‘Steps to Success Scheme’. HMPPS also funds PET to provide grants to prisoners to study Level 3 courses via distance learning arrangements.