Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2019 to Question 262421 on prisoners: education, how his Department assesses the range of courses that should be delivered without collecting information on the courses the Parole Board recommends prisoners complete.

Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) plans the provision of accredited programmes by obtaining a national overview of demand, and more local analyses to understand demand at sites in order to plan provision. This enables us to identify a demand above supply, for example where the Parole Board is limiting progression due to a lack of provision, we are able to identify this and make changes to the provision.

It is the responsibility of HMPPS, not the Parole Board, to assess the suitability and eligibility of offenders for accredited programmes as part of their wider sentence plan. We have a wide range of accredited programmes for prisoners to attend where they are identified as suitable. We always try to ensure that courses are available to prisoners at a suitable time in their sentence.