Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the education services provided in prisons.

On 28 September, we announced the new Prisoner Education Service to improve the literacy, numeracy and vocational skills of prisoners. This will support positive employment outcomes and reduce reoffending, and we have already seen the number of prisoners in work following release more than doubling between 2021 and 2023.

We have rigorous assessments of the quality and effectiveness of the education offer in prisons. These include: tracking employment on release, attendance of prisoners in education sessions as well as provider performance.

The Prison Service is continuing to forge a closer working relationship with Ofsted, who have been delivering education sessions to prison leaders to ensure greater collaboration and clear expectations for prison education.  This includes tracking OFSTED recommendations to ensure sites make progress against them. In the past 6 months 4 prisons have received a ‘Good’ rating from OFSTED, the most in any single year since 2015.

All prisoners are assessed on entry, and a personal learning plan is created to meet their educational needs. This is now electronically stored so that it can move with prisoners when transferred. Prisoners who require basic maths and literacy skills are identified and offered the appropriate support.