Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons publication entitled Report on an unannounced inspection of HMYOI Wetherby by HM Chief Inspector of Prisons (20 November – 7 December 2023), published on 5 March 2024, what steps he is taking to improve the teaching of English at HMYOI Wetherby.

Education managers created a reading strategy which commenced in November 2023 and is in use across the prison, making sure reading for purpose and reading for pleasure are adequately planned and delivered in all lessons, including those for children receiving outreach tuition.

The Head of Education, Skills & Work at HMYOI Wetherby, who is part of the Senior Management Team, will work with the education provider to effect improvements in the quality of English teaching. Attention will be given to ensuring that teachers, when planning learning, pay full regard to children’s starting points, so as to be able to maintain their interest and engagement. All functional skills staff will be required to attend collaborative planning workshops, to improve planning for learning, create clear assessment checkpoints and markers for assessing progress, and develop a sequenced curriculum for delivering English lessons. The Education provider will ensure their staff are teaching to good or outstanding grades through observations of teaching and learning, providing continual professional development and support to any staff who do not reach the required minimum standards. This will be monitored through contract management processes.