Prisons: Education
14th June 2011
Dr Francis: To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what recent discussions he has had with the National Offender Management Service concerning prisoner education, including Open University opportunities.
Mr Blunt: The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) and the Ministry of Justice recently conducted a joint review of offender learning in England. The resulting report ‘Making Prisons Work: Skills for Rehabilitation’, published last month, sets out a reform plan for offender learning.
The Minister of State for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning, my hon. Friend the Member for South Holland the Deepings (Mr Hayes), set out the Government's position on higher education for prisoners in England in his answer on 8 June 2011, Official Report; column 394W. The nature of the changes and how these will be implemented are currently being agreed between BIS and the Ministry of Justice.
