Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many convicted offenders entered the prison estate in the last three years who lacked basic literacy and numeracy skills comparable to Key Stage 4 qualifications.

Every prisoner should undertake an English and Maths assessment on entry into prison. The assessment is undertaken using the Basic and Key Skills Builder Tool. This is a standard functional skills assessment tool used across Further Education in the community as well as in prisons.

The current Prison Education Framework contracts started in April 2019. 55,099 prisoners undertook an initial assessment between April 2019 and March 2020, over half of the initial assessments undertaken were at entry level 1-3 (equivalent to primary school): 57% in English and 61% in maths. During this period 11% of maths and 12% of English Initial Assessments were at level 2 (equivalent to Key Stage 4), or above.

We do not currently assess on exit from prison. However, we plan to start measuring the progress prisoners make in English and maths from the start of next year.

The Prison Strategy White Paper published on 7^th December 2021 sets out the clear strategic priority to improve the numeracy and literacy of prisoners.