Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that people with learning difficulties or disabilities are accommodated in available prison employment, education or training systems.

The Government is committed to making prisons work, so that offenders come out of prison better able to find work and support their families, and less likely to reoffend.

We have already taken steps to improve the support available to offenders with learning difficulties. NOMS, in conjunction with Calderstones NHS Trust and a number of other partners, are engaged in a project on learning difficulties and disabilities to improve outcomes for offenders both in custody and in community.

In the Prison Safety and Reform White Paper, we set out our plans to tailor educational input to suit the needs of the offender through a renewed focus on screening those offenders accessing prison education in order to identify learning difficulties or disabilities. Changing the way prisons are run creates an opportunity to refocus on offenders with learning difficulties and disabilities and how best they can be engaged with education in different types of prison environment. We will set out further details in the employment strategy that will be launched later this year.