Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what educational provision there is for offenders who are unable to read or write.

The Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) arrangements deliver a broad range of provision in adult prisons across England, operating within funding rules set by the Skills Funding Agency. Those funding rules require providers to deliver a core curriculum, commissioned by the prison Governor or the lead Governor for a cluster of prisons, in conjunction with the Skills Funding Agency, which must include mandatory initial assessment of English (and maths) for all prisoners on reception to custody as well as English, maths and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) provision.