Memorandum submitted by the Prison Governors
Association
1. The Prison Governors Association represents
Prison Governors, Senior Operational Managers and Operational
Managers in the United Kingdom. This submission will restrict
itself to circumstances in England and Wales.
2. There are over 75,000 people currently
being held in prison in England and Wales. They cover almost the
full spectrum of educational ability, but are heavily skewed towards
those with low levels of attainment.
3. Accurate assessment of the individual
needs upon reception (not upon conviction) is vital, but some
who are familiar with the tests, over-perform while many, who
may be traumatised by their circumstances, or who are under the
influence of drugs may be unable to perform to their true ability.
4. Basic Skills Agency Assessment Tool is
in common use. This gives a basic indication of educational level
in literacy and numeracy. It does not indicate the prisoners "spiky
profile" which is required for accurate learning planning.
This has to be conducted later and is time consuming and expensive.
5. No assessment of other learning needs
is conducted, such as social skills, parenting ability or job
related skills. No assessment of specific learning difficulties
or syndromes is funded or conducted.
6. Most establishments lack specific roles
to carry out assessment. Where this is provided on the Education
Contract, it is an expensive function.
7. Specific Funding should be provided to
conduct a full range of learning assessments to be delivered by
trained and qualified staff, the results of which will inform
the prisoner's Individual Learning Plan. This should be an integral
part of the prisoner's custody/sentence plan.
8. Most prisoners will be held for relatively
short periods , so time is of the essence. But considerable gains
for the least able can be made in quite a short period of time.
9. Since Education Contracts were introduced
in the early 1990s, a small number of organisations have specialised
in "Prison Education". They now bid, in effect, for
large clusters of prisons rather than for individual establishments,
as was originally envisaged by the service. Consequently, the
term "local contracting" is largely misleading, although
the contract is an individual one between the Governor and the
Principal of the College.
10. The contract is 10 years old. It is
out of date and lacks credibility. We purchase teaching hours
with no link to achievement or to quality. No requirement is included
to recruit, retain, complete or achieve with prisoner learners,
just to deliver the contracted hours. Contractors do achieve all
of the above! This seems to happen rather by good fortune than
by a contractual requirement.
11. A sole provider is not the most efficient,
effective or best value option.
12. The recruitment of staff has become
more difficult as the sector salary has improved and terms and
conditions of service have stabilised. Many members of staff have
been involved in prison education for a long time. The connectivity
with mainstream post compulsory education can suffer.
13. The way forward is to engage local provisions
which meet the needs of the prisoner learner, which are clearly
linked to retention, completion, and achievement, utilising the
available provision and are using best-value contracting principles.
14. Funding will be—and should be—routed
via the Local LSC, which will manage the allocation of provision
to ensure that the most appropriate providers are engaged to deliver.
15. The role of prison staff in supporting
educational activities varies widely from prison to prison. Formal
education classes are taught mostly by contracted teachers. Trade
Training and Behavioural Skills Training will usually be led by
Prison staff. In both cases, Prison Officers also provide a "policing"
role and ensure that inmates (students) get to their classes on
time and in good order.
16. Funding for capital projects (where
it is provided) becomes available with little notice. This prevents
detailed planning and reduces the flexibility required to provide
training which meets the individual needs and responds to labour
market intelligence.
17. Much vocational training in prisons
is carried out in accommodation that was previously used for the
purpose of delivering prison work. Much of it is totally unfit
for role.
18. Little funding is available to update
facilities and to provide appropriate training facilities. Any
such update which is carried out often fails fully to meet the
needs either of the training staff or of the prisoner learner.
19. Each establishment now has a designated
Head of Learning and Skills, an E Grade Manager, with responsibility
for the development of learning delivery. Education delivery is
an integral part of the establishment regime, and is fully supported.
20. Uniformed staff and industrial/instructional
officers are involved in the delivery of learning, much of this
work is well delivered and effective, but most of the staff involved
in the delivery is not qualified.
21. Members of staff involved in delivering
learning must be given the opportunity to train and to acquire
appropriate qualifications to ensure that all delivery meets ALI
standards of quality and excellence.
22. Some of the work is funded by C2W funding
and provides excellent links to future employment. However, no
sustainable funding is available for the continuance of this work.
23. The majority of other activities in
this area is ad hoc and relies upon locally negotiated
provision with little financial support.
24. Attempts are made to link vocational
learning opportunities with local labour market intelligence to
ensure that what we do deliver has an employment-related outcome.
Arrangements with Business Link and with the local LSC help with
this issue.
25. It is vital to provide continuing guidance
and support for ex-prisoners after release. It is also difficult
to provide this effectively.
26. There are some examples of good practice
regarding this type of support, funded via external bids on specifically
targeted funding pots, related to employment issues.
27. Efforts are made to provide suitable
guidance to prisoners upon their release about local or national
learning opportunities and, wherever possible, contact is made
with providers to ensure that a seamless progression is available.
Much of this ad hoc provision is not funded and, as a result,
is ineffective.
28. Establishments involved in the release
of prisoners to the community should have "Guidance Officers"
in place to provide advice during the later stages of custody
and to provide a ready link to community provisions and to local
support structures.
29. Locally and nationally, there are many
different models of delivery by probation areas. For example,
in the North East, the three local boards each provide very different
services.
30. Northumbria is a model of good practice
with a well established ETE section able to offer learning, vocational
training and IAG services.
31. The other areas offer linked community-based
services, or connections to local FE provision.
32. Work is in place to link the work within
the North East cluster of prisons with the probation boards and
so developing a structured and efficient referral and data provision
system. This should ensure that, for those moving to probation
supervision, a seamless progression route will be provided which
will prevent duplication of effort, in terms of assessment of
need.
June 2004
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