Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, whether there is a national curriculum for prison education.

There is currently no national education curriculum for prison education, but work is in hand to introduce a core common curriculum across the prison estate, focusing on maths and English, and using the same awarding bodies for particular types of provision so those starting a course at one prison can bank and build on their progress if they move elsewhere. The curriculum for each prison in England is agreed locally by the prison governor with their Offender Learning and Skills Service provider, drawing from a range of provision that the provider is required to offer.

In October 2016, we introduced changes to the prison education funding rules to give prison governors more authority to put in place education that meets the needs of prisoners in their establishment. Education Delivery Plans for the academic year that commenced on 1 August 2017 are wholly based on those new funding rules and flexibilities, enabling governors to commission delivery of training that meets more effectively the needs of employers in the areas to which prisoners will be released. As set out in the White Paper, “Prison Safety and Reform” published in November 2016, we are extending governor control still further.
Prison governors will be fully responsible for education provision in their prisons once existing contracts end, commissioning the services they think are most appropriate in their individual prison.