Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what plans his Department has to increase the average hours a week of contracted education provided for 15 to 17 year olds in custody.

At present 15-17 year olds in young offender institutions (YOIs) receive an average of only 12 hours contracted education a week. We have recently set out our plans for transforming youth custody and putting education at the heart of detention, and at the same time launched a competition for new education contracts in public sector YOIs which will more than double the time spend young people spend in education. In addition, we are seeking to put education at the heart of the YOI regime by bringing the head teacher overseeing education into the senior management team of the establishment.