Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps his Department has taken to increase the levels of literacy and numeracy in the prison population.

All adult prisoners in English prisons have an assessment of their maths and English needs on entry to prison, when they transfer between prisons, and prior to release.

As set out in the White Paper, “Prison Safety and Reform” published in November 2016, we will ensure that a core common curriculum, focused on the underpinning basic skills of maths and English, will apply in every prison and that every prisoner will have a Personal Learning Plan linked to their sentence plan. We have introduced additional assessment of prisoners’ levels of maths and English on transfer between prisons and on release, gathering data that will allow us to compare prisoners’ attainment in maths and English on release with that at the start of custody, and to measure progress made by prisoners whilst serving their sentences.

We have already introduced significant flexibility in our funding rules for prison education, giving prison governors more ability to put in place a curriculum that meets the needs of learners and responds to the demand for skills in the areas to which those prisoners will be released. Once existing prison education contracts end, we will make prison governors fully responsible for education provision in their prisons, commissioning the services they think are most appropriate in their individual prison. This will allow governors to decide how to structure their educational regime, and who delivers it, while following a core common curriculum set nationally which will focus on maths and English.