Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been spent on the education of illiterate offenders in a prison setting in each of the last 10 years.

Information on the amount spent on the education of illiterate offenders is not centrally collected.

The total funding available in the 2015-16 financial year to the Offender Learning and Skills Service is £128.9m as outlined in the Skills funding Letter:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/406881/Vince_Cable_and_Nick_Boles_to_Peter_Lauener_-__Skills_Funding_Agency.pdf

It is the responsibility of the prison Governor in conjunction with the Skills Funding Agency to commission a curriculum based on the money they have been allocated each year.

The Department does not hold information on the cost of individual types of provision but information on the number of learners participating in English courses by level is published online at the FE Data Library (link below). There is no formal definition for illiteracy but English at Level 2 is defined as the level required for day-to-day life. Reliable data for offender learning is available from 2010/11 onwards.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416721/feandskills-OLASS-participation-and-achievement.xls