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The transfer of responsibility for prison education to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) created an important opportunity for this Committee to inquire into the provision of education and training in prisons, and to scrutinise provision against mainstream standards. We have aimed to shine a light on a subject that has been a low priority for both Government and the general public.
Current provision of prison education is unacceptable. Whilst the Government has provided a substantial increase in resources it is failing to fully meet its manifesto commitment to 'dramatically increase the quality and quantity of education provision'. In 2004, still less than a third of prisoners had access to prison education at any one time. There needs to be a fundamental shift in approach to prison education and a step change in the level of high quality provision that is suited to meet the needs of individual prisoners to provide them with a real alternative to crime on release.
An over arching strategy for prison education
It is essential that we are clear about the purpose of prison education. Prison education should be part of a wider approach to reduce recidivism through the rehabilitation of prisoners. Although contributing to the reduction of recidivism is of key importance, prison education is about more than just this. It is also important to deliver education in prisons because it is the right thing to do. The breadth of the education curriculum is important and the wider benefits of learning should not be sacrificed due to an over-emphasis on employability skills. Education as part of a broader approach to rehabilitation must consider the full range of needs of the prisoner and continue to support the prisoner on release. Prison education does not take place in isolation, and its purpose cannot be understood in isolation from these wider issues.
The transfer of responsibility to the DfES in 2001 has not yet achieved a significant increase in the priority given to prison education. Our main finding is that progress in the provision of prison education and training is being hampered by a lack of an effective over-arching strategy. Despite the creation of the Offender Learning and Skills Unit within the DfES, there is little sense of ownership of prison education, no obvious high profile champion within the DfES, and no drive or energy in moving things forward. The introduction of the National Offender Management Service has added to the confusion over responsibilities. In spite, or because of, all of these players, there is no strategic direction and it is not clear where final decisions about policy are made. Prison education must rise up the Government's agenda. Purpose and commitment must come from Government leadership.
Local delivery
This uncertainty in the system generally is mirrored at local level, with the prison governor, the head of learning and skills, the education manager and now the regional offender manager all having a role in the management of prison education. Everyone agrees that there needs to be an improvement in existing contract arrangements, but recent changes, including the cancellation of a new tendering round, known as Project Rex, have caused a great deal of uncertainty and instability for staff. The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) were given responsibility for the funding, planning and delivery of prison education in 2004 and will be fully in charge from 2006. The LSC have been running three prototypes since January 2005, and new contract arrangements are to be rolled out nationally in August 2006. We have concerns over the timetable of the national roll-out and the lack of clarity of the criteria on which prototypes will be assessed. More generally, we have concerns about these arrangements being put in place being done in isolation from an overarching strategy about what prison education should be delivering.
We recommend that the Learning and Skills Council is given the appropriate resources necessary to apply its standard funding methodology so that prisons have access to all of the funding streams available to mainstream Colleges. In particular, we wish to see the Additional Learning Support funding approach applied to prison education. More broadly, we recommend that the Government undertakes a fundamental review to establish what it wants to achieve through prison education and then funds education provision at a level sufficient to meet this chosen outcome. Existing budget constraints, based on historical levels of provision, should not continue. A clear strategy for prison education should be costed and appropriately funded.
Current provision
Current provision is focused on the delivery of basic skills and is driven by Key Performance Targets on basic skills that each prison has to meet. It is widely accepted that basic skills are not sufficient to enable prisoners to improve their employability in isolation of broader learning including soft skills, and that such a concentrated focus has narrowed the curriculum to the detriment of the learners. Existing Key Performance Targets are driving provision in an unhelpful manner and need to be re-considered, as does the very narrow focus on basic skills. It is totally unacceptable that the existing concentration on particular basic skills qualifications is based on little more than a 'hunch' on the part of the Government that this will provide the training that is most needed. We urge the Government to undertake thorough and robust research to identify what type of education and training provision will have the greatest impact on meeting the individual learning needs of the prisoner and providing them with real alternatives to crime on release.
There needs to be a much better integration of education, vocational training, and work regimes in prisons and a significant step change in the level of provision of high quality vocational and work-based education. Schemes such as the Young Offender Programme, led by National Grid Transco, that now involves over 50 employers and trains prisoners for real jobs to meet a genuine skills gap must be the way forward for vocational training in prisons. The Committee would like to see more identification of skills shortages within local areas to the prison, and partnerships developed with businesses to meet these skill shortages. Real pay for real work should be given further consideration and, at the very least, the pay that prisoners receive for education should be equal to any other activity undertaken. We would like to see the Government encouraging a great deal more entrepreneurial activity within prisons, with more business enterprises within prisons providing real work for prisoners, and much closer links with local Further Education Colleges, Universities and employers.
Focusing on the needs of individuals
There needs to be an overarching strategy for prison education that recognises the need for different models of delivery in different prisons. The majority of prisoners are short-term prisoners passing through local prisons. For these prisoners there should be a service which focuses on properly assessing the needs and aspirations of the individual and providing information advice and guidance that concentrates on linking them with learning and skills provision in the local community and ensuring that they have access to this provision after release. A successful system for the electronic transfer of records is needed as a matter of priority for this to be possible. The provision for longer term prisoners should be different, with more appropriate education and training available in prisons.
We welcome the recognition by Government that improvements are needed. This aspiration to provide better education and training in prisons needs to be matched by a coherent approach. The real key to success is not to create a separate structure for prison education at national or regional level, but rather to make sure that prisoners have access to the facilities which already exist locally.
The delivery of prisoners' Individual Learning Plans as part of their sentence plans needs urgent improvement. Implementation so far has been shambolic. Individual Learning Plans need a thorough and robust assessment of needs (including special educational needs), linked to entitlement, and a much greater focus on the continuation of provision on release through mainstream services.
Barriers across the wider prison regime
Finally, there are a number of barriers across the wider prison regime that are adding to the difficulty of successfully delivering prison education, including overcrowding and the constant movement of prisoners between prisons, described colloquially as 'churn'. Without changes to the wider prison regime, and without a strong commitment to reduce overcrowding and 'churn', it will be very difficult to achieve improvements in prison education.
We must keep in mind the fact that a prison is a prison and not a secure learning centre. Nevertheless, the Government should be aiming to develop a culture in prisons in which education is a much greater priority. This cannot be achieved without a significant shift in the investment in training given to Prison Officers. At just 8 weeks, the initial training period for Prison Officers is too short and we invite the Home Office to review this. A much greater level of investment in staff education and development is required in order to encourage a more positive attitude amongst Prison Officers towards the role that education has to play in prisons. The Home Office must take the lead in the large scale of reform that is necessary, and we encourage them to be bold in the reform of prisons and probation that is reportedly taking place at present.
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