Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what is the total cost to date of the scheme run at HMP Leicester which allows prisoners to produce their own podcasts, including how much has been spent on equipment and how much staff time is spent on this per week on average.

The podcast studio at HMP Leicester was established with £10,000 of funding from the local Police and Crime Commissioner. Indicative equipment and set-up costs were £9,151.29, covering podcast equipment, cameras, a laptop, studio set-up and professional training. A further £9,948 of funding from H M Prison & Probation Service was approved for equipment and infrastructure to enable podcast content to be distributed through the prison television system.

The podcast workshop operates from Monday to Friday, with two-hour sessions each morning and afternoon, equating to 20 hours of workshop delivery per week. An instructor is present throughout these sessions and is also responsible for podcast editing. Information on the average time spent editing is not held centrally and cannot be disaggregated from time spent on other duties.

Purposeful activity can help prisoners develop skills, improve their behaviour and prepare for employment on release, which is a proven way to cut reoffending and help protect the public.