Prisons: Employment

(asked on 4th December 2014) - View Source

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what proportion of (a) male and (b) female prisoners were in purposeful activity within prison for the last four years.


Answered by
Andrew Selous Portrait
Andrew Selous
Second Church Estates Commissioner
This question was answered on 11th December 2014

Up until the end of 2011-12 information was collected on the average hours per prisoner per week that prisoners spent in purposeful activity.

Figures for the three years to 2011-12 are set out in the table below.

Average hours of purposeful activity per prisoner per week

2009-10

2010-11

2011-12

Male

24.3

24.6

24.8

Female

27.1

27.3

26.3

Figures have been drawn from administrative IT systems, which, as with any large scale recording system, are subject to possible errors with data entry and processing.

Purposeful activity was discontinued as a performance indicator for prisons at the end of 2011-12 because it was not used in the day-to-day management of prisons. Figures on the above basis for subsequent periods and for the proportion of male and female prisoners in purposeful activity could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Indicators introduced into prison SLAs in respect of rehabilitation, resettlement and work in prisons provide a better demonstration of efforts to prepare prisoners for release and reduce reoffending.

Too many prisoners have been passing their time in a state of idleness, and that is why under our reforms to the Incentives and Earned Privileges national policy framework, which came into effect in adult prisons on 1 November 2013, prisoners are now expected to engage in purposeful activity, as well as demonstrate a commitment towards their rehabilitation, reduce their risk of reoffending, behave well and help others if they are to earn privileges.

Work in prisons is a key priority to ensure prisoners are engaged in real work whilst they are in custody. It also gives them the opportunity to learn skills and a work ethic which can increase their chances of finding employment on release, a key element to reducing reoffending.

The number of prisoners working in industrial activity reported by public sector prisons increased from around 8,600 in 2010-11 to around 9,900 in 2013-14. This delivered an increase in the total hours worked in industrial activities from 10.6 million hours to 14.2 million hours, as published in the National Offender Management Service Annual Report 2013-14: Management Information Addendum: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-and-probation-trusts-performance-statistics-201314.

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