Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to educate prisoners nearing release so that they are able better to reintegrate into society.

Prisons should be places of safety and reform. I am determined to make sure that we achieve better outcomes for prisoners in employment, education and health. Fewer than half the people entering prisons have basic standards of literacy and numeracy. This is a huge problem because we know that low levels of education can prevent people from securing jobs on release and leading law abiding lives. I want to see much clearer accountability for prison governors for the education delivered whilst prisoners are in prison and the results they achieve, to get significant improvement.