Memorandum submitted by the Department
for Education and Skills
The Skills Strategy White Paper, "21st
Century Skills—Realising Our Potential" presents us
with a unique opportunity to secure future prosperity for the
country and to transform the lives of millions of people. It does
this by putting employers' and individuals' needs centre stage,
delivering the skills they need and providing easy access to high
quality training across the full range from basic to advanced
skills.
A successful strategy will bring enormous economic
and social benefits to the nation and by increasing the skill
levels of all, and in particular of groups traditionally under-represented
in skilled employment, we will develop an inclusive society that
promotes employability for all.
THE SKILLS
NEEDS OF
OFFENDERS
In any one year, around 130,000 people are or
have been in prison, with a further 200,000 supervised by the
Probation Service in the community. The prison population at time
of writing is just over 74,500, including: 2,600 who are under
18; 7,500 aged 18-20; and 4,500 women. Compared to the general
population, offenders have disproportionately poor skills. Many
have a history of truancy or exclusion from school, and have left
school with few or no formal qualifications. For example:
— almost four out of five prisoners
have been temporarily or permanently excluded from school; with
at least six months' education lost in nearly half of all cases;
— half of all prisoners screened on
reception are at or below Level 1 in reading, two-thirds in numeracy
and four fifths in writing; and
— around 60-65% of offenders screened
by the National Probation Service have very poor basic skills;
significantly higher than the estimated 20% of the general population
with a similar learning need.
At the same time, research published by the
Basic Skills Agency makes a link between repeated criminal offences
and poor literacy skills.
The goals of the new Criminal Justice Act are:
punishment, rehabilitation, reparation, deterrence and reform.
Learning activities can contribute to the effective management
of a humane prison regime. Having a job makes re-offending much
less likely, and the right education and training can make it
more likely that offenders will get and maintain employment on
release or whilst subject to community orders. Therefore the development
of an excellent offender education service is a priority for the
government, reflected in a Manifesto commitment.
Security and practicability are obviously of
great importance when dealing with offenders, particularly those
in a custodial setting. But in other respects, such as learning
backgrounds and lack of achievements, most offenders are not very
different from many of their counterparts in the community. That
is why our vision is that they too should, according to need,
have access to education and training which enable them to gain
the skills and qualifications they need to hold down a job and
have a positive role in society. Our aim is that the content and
quality of learning programmes in prisons, and the qualifications
to which these lead, should increasingly be the same as those
of comparable provision in the community.
THE IMPORTANCE
OF THE
SKILLS STRATEGY
FOR OFFENDERS
We believe learning and skills have a lot to
offer offenders. The Government's Skills Strategy, which includes
Skills for Life, focuses on supporting disadvantaged groups.
Skills for Life, the national strategy for improving adult
literacy and numeracy skills, sets out how the Government will
reach its Public Service Agreement goal of improving the basic
skills of 1.5 million adults by 2007.
The Government is implementing its Skills
for Life strategy through key delivery partners, including
the Offenders Learning and Skills Unit, the Prison and Probation
Services, the Adult Basic Skills Strategy Unit, the Inspectorates,
the Learning and Skills Council, JobCentre Plus and other government
departments. These partners are working together closely to promote,
plan, deliver, fund and inspect basic skills provision for priority
groups. One of these priority groups is offenders, whether in
custody or in the community, whose poor literacy and numeracy
skills are a serious obstacle to rehabilitation and the search
for employment on release.
The Skills Strategy helps people develop the
skills they need for employment as well as personal fulfilment.
It supports learners in different ways, offering information and
advice, making courses more accessible and driving up quality
through Success for All, helping with costs and gaining support
from employers.
It introduces a wide range of interlinked measures
to remove barriers to learning and support participation for individuals,
as well as re-focusing public investment in those areas of skills
provision where it is most needed—for example, a universal
entitlement to a first full Level 2 qualification and in specific
shortage areas above Level 2. New Deal for Skills was announced
by the Chancellor in his Budget of 17 March 2004. Focusing directly
on taking forward a key element of the Skills Strategy, New Deal
for Skills sets out new ways of tackling both long standing barriers
between welfare and workforce development and the problem of numbers
of people with no or low skills. In developing the NDfS, the needs
of offenders and ex-offenders will be kept firmly in mind.
PROGRESS SO
FAR IN
MEETING OFFENDERS'
SKILLS NEEDS
Education and training can play an important
role in motivating offenders and reducing re-offending. Funding
for offender learning, which is jointly administered by the DfES
and the Home Office, has risen from £97 million in 2003-04
to £127 million in 2004-05.
The Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit in DfES
co-ordinates the development and delivery of change, working in
partnership with the Home Office, Prison Service, National Probation
Service, Youth Justice Board, Learning and Skills Council and
others.
(i) Progress in Prisons
Key achievements in prisons include:
— prisoners achieved over 46,000 qualifications
in literacy, language and numeracy in 2003-04, as well as nearly
110,000 qualifications in work-related skills which will prepare
them for employment on release. These achievements exceeded national
targets in both areas. The Home Office target for getting 31,500
prisoners into employment, training or education outcomes on release
in 2003-04 has also been met.
— a national Quality Improvement Strategy
for prisoner learning has been introduced, which embeds the requirement
for annual self-assessment and three-year development plans.
— Ufi/learndirect has worked with the
Department to rollout learndirect delivery in 20 prisons and in
local probation services. They have also delivered online tests
to prisons through mobile testing units.
— the management and organisation of
learning and skills provision in prisons now has a single champion
in the person of the Heads of Learning and Skills. These key senior
posts enable establishments to make progress across a number of
areas in which they have generally been weak:
— bringing together colleagues from across
the prison to ensure that learning opportunities are maximised
in all parts of the regime;
— ensuring that this partnership, supported
by comprehensive and routine self-assessment, is reflected in
three-year development plans reviewed and rolled forward annually;
— ensuring the existence and implementation
of a quality assurance framework for learning and skills in the
establishment; and
— promoting a transformational change in
delivery practice which takes account of prisoners' needs and
offers a wide range of methods to encourage and maintain participation.
(ii) Progress with Offenders in the Community
We have recently put in place new arrangements
to support improvements in the learning and skills of offenders
in the community as well as those in custody. The Offenders' Learning
and Skills Unit in DfES, in partnership with the National Probation
Service (NPS) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), is now
responsible for the learning and skills of offenders under supervision
of the NPS.
This new partnership between the NPS and LSC
brings together the joint expertise of both organisations and
will enable the creation of a greater range of educational opportunities
for offenders in the community. Exposure to such opportunities
will, it is hoped, encourage offenders to explore further educational
provision as well as vocational programmes. The partnership will
also allow for planned progression and, as far as can be arranged,
seamless transfer from education delivered under supervision,
to mainstream learning and training activities. The new relationship
will assist both organisations to tackle the bureaucratic and
administrative hurdles that can become barriers to learning for
offenders.
IMPROVING QUALITY
There is a great deal to be done in terms of
improving quality in the learning and skills provided in both
custodial and community settings. Quality improvement remains
a major focus.
We are working in partnership with the Adult
Learning Inspectorate and Ofsted to address the significant weaknesses
highlighted in both Chief Inspectors' Annual Reports as well as
the findings of the comprehensive thematic review of adult literacy,
numeracy and ESOL in prisons. These reports set a useful baseline
for the main strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of learning
and skills in prisons and young offender institutions.
We are also working with the Inspectorates to
address weaknesses in provision for offenders in the community.
We are currently preparing an action plan for publication which
will set out the progress we are making with the Probation Service
and Learning and Skills Council, and the plans we have to improve
provision for Skills for Life for offenders in the community.
The voluntary and community sector remains fully
engaged in providing innovative and imaginative learning and skills
programmes for offenders. For example, the Inside Out Trust continues
to develop prison projects based on restorative justice principles
through which prisoners learn new skills in order to provide goods
and services to disadvantaged people across the world; and the
Irene Taylor Trust which takes creative music projects into prisons
as part of the rehabilitation and education of offenders.
In March 2004 we launched a strategy to improve
the effectiveness of joint working between prisons and organisations
in the voluntary and community sector, alongside an evaluation
and monitoring guide to help both Heads of Learning and Skills
and staff involved in delivery to ensure quality.
IMPROVING DELIVERY
IN THE
FUTURE
We intend to maintain the momentum in driving
up offender engagement and achievement and focusing on offenders
serving sentences both in custody and in the community in a more
coherent way. It is important that we develop structures and initiatives
which will maximise the benefits for individual offenders in terms
of the learning they undertake during their sentence and beyond.
The DfES and Home Office want a service that
provides all offenders, whether in custody or the community, with
the learning and skills they need as individuals. In the case
of offenders in custody, this needs to be done in the context
of their overall sentence plan, which itself includes the goal
of rehabilitation. Key features of this new service include:
— the aim should be to improve the
skills of offenders and improve performance in placing offenders
in sustainable employment. This will require a focus on both basic
and key skills as well as vocational skills.
— the service should have the flexibility
to meet individual needs, within the constraints of the sentence.
— learning and development activities
should be of the same high standard as those available for other
learners.
— continuity is crucial throughout
the duration of a custodial sentence and beyond to keep learners
engaged and to secure positive outcomes.
— accountabilities, targets and rewards,
inspection and performance management within prisons and probation
services should emphasise the importance of learning and employability
outcomes for offenders. Prison governors should be focused on
prisoners achieving qualifications and entering sustainable employment.
— continuity and coherence in sharing
information and transferring records should enable the whole system
to focus on the offender.
— offenders should have access to information,
advice and guidance.
— the best possible provision for e-learning
and effective use of information and communication technologies
should be offered consistent with security and the protection
of the public.
We are developing a new approach to delivery,
to replace the current contracts for prison learning and skills
services, in order to make a reality of the more flexible, individually-focused
offender education service we need. Greater involvement of the
Learning and Skills Council through their new regional infrastructure,
and the creation of a National Offender Management Service with
regional offender managers, open up possibilities for developing
new models of partnership and delivery. NOMS offers an integrated
approach to the custodial and non-custodial aspects of a sentence,
enhancing continuity which will become increasingly important
under new sentencing arrangements. The LSC offers a single channel
for planning, commissioning, funding and overseeing post-16 learning
delivery.
The North East, North West and South West regions
of England have been selected to develop and test out the most
effective forms of delivery partnership, starting from the autumn
of 2004. There will be a strong focus on achieving continuity
of learning during a sentence and beyond it. Our initial thinking
is that the regional level should set the main framework for delivery,
with some provision offered at national level as appropriate.
The lessons from this activity will inform comprehensive proposals
for a national delivery framework for the Offenders Learning and
Skills Service.
Supplementary information
ASSESSMENT OF
PRISONERS' NEEDS
ON CONVICTION
Early and effective assessment of need is essential
if prison and probation services are to identify and respond to
an offender's individual learning needs. The Prison Service Order
governing the delivery and management of induction processes for
prisoners entering custodial sentences (PSO 0550) states that
"attendance on education programmes must be planned as a
result of a needs assessment and must be part of an integrated
programme of regime activities".
The goal of the OLSU is increasingly to introduce
national approaches and standards into prisons. That means building
capacity for comprehensive screening, initial assessment and diagnostic
assessment, which then feeds into an Individual Learning Plan
(ILP) recording learning and other goals and progress against
them.
At present, practice varies across the estate.
Our aim is to reach a position where assessments happen as a matter
of course, with ILPs firmly embedded in the sentence planning
process.
Facilitating a "learning journey"
for individual offenders is the focus for a new integrated delivery
service for offender learning and skills on which developmental
work is shortly to begin in three regions—the North West,
North East and South West of England. Specifications for this
future service have been developed and are being refined through
consultation and testing in the three development regions.
Meanwhile, Individual Learning Plans are being
piloted in juvenile custodial facilities through the PLUS literacy
programme with capital investment in local prisons focusing on
capacity building where it is most needed, ie where prisoners
are first received into custody.
THE EFFECTIVENESS
OF LOCAL
CONTRACTING ARRANGEMENTS
Current contracts have been focused on purchasing
inputs rather than outputs, which has made it difficult to assess
value for money, and they do not encourage innovation. Although
we are extending the contracts while we develop the new arrangements,
the Prison Service is providing pro-active management to establishments,
including training for Heads of Learning and Skills in contract
management and agreeing corrective action plans with the establishment
where necessary. This will ensure that we introduce as much improvement
in quality as is possible in advance of the introduction of new
arrangements for delivery.
PROVISION OF
APPROPRIATE TRAINING
FACILITIES WITHIN
PRISONS
Government is clear that the primary focus of
training for prisoners should be to prepare them effectively for
resettlement. With this in mind, we are committed to bringing
training provision into greater alignment with industry standards
and ensuring that it equips prisoners with the range of skills
they need to enhance their employability on release.
We are looking to Heads of Learning and Skills
to drive forward our agenda for creating greater coherence across
learning and skills provision in prisons, bringing together a
range of staff delivering a range of programmes and/or support.
This year we have brought together the funding allocations for
education and vocational training into one ring fenced budget.
This will allow maximum flexibility for Prison Service areas to
decide how best to use the funds to support local work based learning
priorities/initiatives—whether through existing arrangements
or through education contracts.
In addition, investment of £7.4 million
over the past two years from the Capital Modernisation Fund has
provided classrooms adjacent to workshops, enabling Skills for
Life and key skills to be integrated into practical training.
A further £4.5 million of Capital Modernisation
Fund resources has enabled establishments to upgrade their facilities
and equipment so that prisoners can achieve skills and qualifications
in areas and at levels needed by industry, and DfES continues
to advise the Prison Service on the introduction of prisoner training
programmes with employer involvement which could lead to enhanced
opportunities for employment for learners on release.
Prisons have been included in the piloting of
new learning materials in construction industry training and in
horticulture. Work also continues with sector skills councils
such as the CITB (construction) and LANTRA (land-based industries)
and with awarding bodies to develop vocational programmes for
prisoners which meet the particular needs of the prison learning
environment, eg unitised qualifications.
THE ROLE
OF PRISON
STAFF IN
SUPPORTING EDUCATIONAL
ACTIVITIES
Prison governors are accountable for educational
outcomes in their establishments. It is important therefore that
the prison regimes allow prisoners access to learning and skills
opportunities. DfES has funded a new senior post in each prison
establishment. The role of Heads of Learning and Skills is to
facilitate and encourage the expansion of learning opportunities
for prisoners which will enhance their employability and their
life in the community after release. Replicating successful practice
in the juvenile estate, Heads of Learning and Skills have an overview
across all learning provision, and are expected to co-ordinate
activities to ensure coherence and quality— both within
their establishment and with opportunities in the local community—and
to maximise opportunities for learning throughout the establishment.
This involves promoting a culture of learning across the prison,
encouraging or supporting the involvement of a range of staff
in prisoner learning including prison officers, officer instructors,
instructional officers and teachers.
Training and support for instructors to deliver
accreditation through vocational training workshops, and to support
these skills with underpinning key skills such as communication,
numeracy and teamwork, is further encouraged by peer partnership
schemes through which prison staff as well as prisoners can become
basic skills supporters.
Heads of Learning and Skills in the juvenile
estate are currently working to the Youth Justice Board's National
Specification which was designed "to expand learning from
the classroom into the entire fabric of the institution and to
provide the framework for training and enabling all institutional
staff to support learning and influence behaviour positively".
A range of staff including tutors, vocational
training instructors, PE officers and wing officers have undergone
accredited training in order to support learners and/or work in
the classroom when off duty. In some cases, identified staff work
in the education block daily. Support in developing literacy and
numeracy skills is also available through the PLUS programme's
development advisers.
Beyond this, the involvement of personal officers
in the Detention and Training Order review process is essential
to a whole establishment focus on learning and skills development
and to engaging individual offenders in education, training or
employment on release.
LINKS WITH
EMPLOYERS AND
EMPLOYER LED
INITIATIVES
Research has shown that there is a link between
unemployment and re-offending, which is why the focus is increasingly
on ensuring that vocational training for prisoners equips them
with the skills needed for life and for industry.
DfES offers learning and skills advice to the
Prison Service to inform its development of the Service's strategic
links with employers and employer organisations. The Service's
Custody to Work Unit is working with employer organisations, including
the Confederation of British Industry, to identify employment
sectors which have feasible job opportunities for offenders and
develop links with major employers in those sectors. Its work
also includes promoting the case with employers that, with appropriate
basic skills, training and work experience, released prisoners
can be a useful source of labour.
Following a recent review of prison industries,
the Prison Service has agreed a new statement of purpose which
emphasises taking opportunities wherever possible to improve prisoners'
skills and their employment prospects on release. The review suggests
that the Prison Service should seek to attract work that can develop
prisoners' skills, and that prison industries should keep in touch
with developments in the modern labour market. This will involve
developing links with the relevant Sector Skills Councils which
can provide relevant labour market information and help the Service
develop its links with employers in related industries.
The Youth Justice Board is working in partnership
with the LSC on a specific young offender e2e (Education to Employment)
pathfinder targeting those young people who need additional help
in obtaining the skills for employability and a route into further
education or work based learning. The pilot is working in Brinsford,
Hindley, Stoke Heath and Wetherby YOIs, selecting and preparing
groups of young people for continuing e2e work in the community
post release.
CONTINUING SUPPORT
AND GUIDANCE
ON RELEASE,
INCLUDING CO
-ORDINATION WITH
LOCAL PROVIDERS
There is a new partnership to deliver effective
learning provision to offenders in the community. The Offenders'
Learning and Skills Unit in DfES is now working closely with the
LSC, the National Probation Service and other key partners to
develop a new integrated service that will provide coherence across
custodial and community sectors, in line with strategic framework
for the new National Offender Management Service.
The Learning and Skills Council has a key role
to play in ensuring that the gains made by offenders while serving
a custodial sentence are not lost on transfer or release into
the community. It continues to fund day-release enrolments for
adult prisoners eligible for release on temporary license (ROTL).
This scheme supports continuity by enabling individuals to continue
their studies without a break after release, while also equipping
them with valuable skills—particularly in vocational areas—which
will enhance their employability.
We are encouraging capacity building across
the prison estate, while looking to Heads of Learning and Skills
to develop strategic links at local level with providers, both
to promote mainstream standards in custody and to facilitate continuity
of learning on release. This is also being done by the Probation
Service through the new partnership arrangements for community-based
learning.
For those under 18 years of age the Youth Offending
Teams are key to managing the whole of a young person's sentence—both
in custody and in the community—including the transfer of
an individual to community provision on release. The Youth Justice
Board has a shared target with the Connexions Service for 90%
of young people to enter education, training or employment on
release. To support the transition from custody back into the
community, custodial staff are required to attend the young person's
first review after release.
Additionally the YJB is using £8 million
from SR2002 over three years to enhance the ETE engagement capacity
within Youth Offending Teams and Young Offender Institutions,
targeting the highest risk groups of young people on Intensive
Supervision and Surveillance Programmes and serving Detention
and Training Orders. This money provides additional mentoring
and Connexions Personal Adviser support to ensure educational
placements are properly brokered and sustained.
EDUCATION, TRAINING
AND SUPPORT
FOR THOSE
ON PROBATION
Offenders under supervision in the community
face a range of challenges including a lack of stable accommodation,
health problems, lack of family support, unemployment and a poor
employment history, drug and alcohol abuse and mental health problems.
We firmly believe that offenders according to
need should have access to education and training in the community.
This will enable them to gain the skills and qualifications they
require to provide alternatives to crime, obtain and keep appropriate
employment, and play a positive role within the community.
New partnership arrangements came into force
in April 2004 to support improvements in the learning and skills
of offenders in the community, strengthening partnership working
between the Offenders' Learning and Skills Unit in DfES, the National
Probation Service (NPS) and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).
An additional £9.4 million in 2004-05 and 2005-06 will be
allocated to local Learning and Skills Councils for this purpose.
New targets of 32,000 starts and 8,000 qualifications in England
and Wales are shared between the DfES, LSC and NPS.
The new National Offender Management Service
(NOMS) will help sharpen the focus on this vital area as we move
towards a new sentencing framework comprising both a custodial
and a community element. The introduction of the National Offender
Management Service (NOMS) will underpin "end to end"
offender management, ensuring that the focus is firmly on managing
offenders throughout their entire sentence. The Prison Service
and the NPS will work much more closely together on a range of
interventions to support offender rehabilitation.
June 2004
| 
