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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of education on the probability of illiterate offenders reoffending.

Andrew Selous

We need a new emphasis in prisons on rehabilitation. We want prisons to be places of rigorous education where offenders can get the skills to make a success of life on the outside. When so many entering custody lack basic skills in numeracy and literacy, it would be a travesty if we didn’t get them reading and writing when they are in our care. That is why the Justice Secretary has asked Dame Sally Coates to lead a review of education in our prisons.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what funding is available for illiterate prisoners to learn to read and write and to receive education while in prison.

Nick Boles

The Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) budget for adults in custody in England is £128.9m for the 2015-16 financial year. This figure includes funding for the National Careers Service in custody.

The OLASS budget is not sub-divided for particular subjects or types of learning. The Skills Funding Agency’s funding rules require providers to deliver a core curriculum, commissioned by the prison Governor or the lead Governor for a cluster of prisons in conjunction with the Skills Funding Agency, which must include mandatory initial assessment of English (and maths) for all prisoners on reception to custody, as well as English, maths and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), vocational qualifications, including Information and Communications Technology (ICT), and employability skills (which may include a wide range of team-working, personal, social and other skills).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many non-remand prisoners are classified a illiterate; and how many such prisoners there were in each prison in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Boles

There is no formal definition for illiteracy but English at Level 2 is defined as the desirable level for day-to-day life. Mandatory English and maths assessments for newly-received prisoners (except individuals who have been assessed recently, and those who already have maths and English at Level 2) were introduced from academic year 2014/15. The outcomes for the English education assessments in 2014/15 are published online at the FE Data Library (link below).

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/473764/feandskills-OLASS-participation-english-and-maths-assessments.xls

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Mrs Emma Lewell-Buck on 2015-12-17.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how much has been spent on the education of illiterate offenders in a prison setting in each of the last 10 years.

Nick Boles

Information on the amount spent on the education of illiterate offenders is not centrally collected.

The total funding available in the 2015-16 financial year to the Offender Learning and Skills Service is £128.9m as outlined in the Skills funding Letter:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/406881/Vince_Cable_and_Nick_Boles_to_Peter_Lauener_-__Skills_Funding_Agency.pdf

It is the responsibility of the prison Governor in conjunction with the Skills Funding Agency to commission a curriculum based on the money they have been allocated each year.

The Department does not hold information on the cost of individual types of provision but information on the number of learners participating in English courses by level is published online at the FE Data Library (link below). There is no formal definition for illiteracy but English at Level 2 is defined as the level required for day-to-day life. Reliable data for offender learning is available from 2010/11 onwards.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/416721/feandskills-OLASS-participation-and-achievement.xls

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