Memorandum submitted by the Learning and
Skills Council
SUMMARY
1. The Learning and Skills Council currently
has a limited role in prison education and training. It includes
the responsibility for securing learning and skills training for
offenders in the community and it has joint responsibility with
the National Probation Service for achieving targets. The lead
for work with offenders in custody currently rests with the Offenders
Learning and Skills Unit (OLSU) within the Department for Education
and Skills (DfES) but many LSC local offices are engaged in work
with offenders.
2. However, the Government intends to create
a more integrated approach to learning and skills for all offenders.
As the single efficient and effective body for planning, funding,
contracting and overseeing post-16 education and training, the
LSC will have a greatly increased involvement in this approach.
3. An integrated approach will require new
and innovative models of partnership and delivery. Over the next
year, these will be tested out in the North West, South West and
North East LSC regions. From these "prototype" trials
we will develop an integrated Learning and Skills Service for
offenders, with a view to wider implementation of these new ways
of working in September 2005.
4. The changes will bring a whole host of
benefits. In particular an integrated service with the LSC's involvement
will ensure continuity of learning from custody into the community,
to meet the specific needs of offenders and introduce a greater
ability to meet skills needs locally, regionally and nationally.
5. Our evidence outlines the LSC's current
role in prison education and skills, sets out the rationale for
transfer of responsibility and demonstrates the LSC's role in
the pilots taking place in three areas of the country.
IMPORTANCE OF
LEARNING AND
SKILLS
6. Offender management has twin goals: to
punish offenders and to reduce re-offending. The provision of
learning and skills for offenders can make a significant contribution
to the second goal. Research shows that having a job makes re-offending
less likely and the appropriate provision of learning and skills
can actively increase the chances of an offender getting a job
when they leave custody. Learning and skills activities can also
contribute to the effective management of a humane prison regime.
7. The Government is looking to increase
the skills levels of offenders both in custody and in the community.
The Home Office and the DfES want a new service which offers all
offenders the learning and skills they need, meeting individual
needs while providing basic, key and vocational skills. To do
this, a new integrated service is being designed and new models
or "prototypes" of delivering training will be tested.
8. The Learning and Skills Council is currently
responsible for securing learning and skills provision for offenders
in the community. As from 1 April 2004, the LSC also assumed joint
responsibility with the National Probation Service (NPS) for new
partnership plans to achieve specific Public Service Agreement
targets for skills for those in the community.
9. For those in custody, the LSC's involvement
has been limited in that the contracts for this work have been
awarded by the Offenders Learning and Skills Unit within the Department
for Education and Skills (DfES) and not the LSC. However, the
LSC has been involved in elements of training in some circumstances
for adult prisoners on day release.
AN INTEGRATED
SERVICE
10. The Home Office and the DfES will create
a new body, the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to
manage the integrated service. This new body will have a strong
regional dimension and will work closely with the LSC's new Regional
Directors, allowing the service to benefit from the LSC's expertise
in helping to create a greater range of opportunities for offenders.
11. Regional "prototypes" are
being developed to test new and innovative ways of delivering
prison education and training. They will contribute to the integrated
service and have strong links with the work being done in the
community by the new LSC/Probation Service partnership.
12. All nine Learning and Skills Council
regions were invited to propose their region as a development
region for the new integrated offender Learning and Skills Service.
As a result of the invitation, three regions have been invited
to participate. These are North West, South West and North East.
These regions will work with the Offenders Learning and Skills
Unit and the LSC to draw up the Common Delivery Framework.
13. This work will involve the development
of trial models from summer 2004 and a trial period between January
and July 2005. We aim to have the agreed delivery framework emerging
from the trials implemented across all regions from September
2005.
14. Each development region will develop
one or more variables to test as a prototype to inform the new
national framework. Key aspects of the prototypes work will be
to explore:
— the best ways of maximising funding;
— an appropriate "mix" of
contractors providing learning and skills;
— progress towards the concept of a
"learner journey" which encompasses both custody and
community; and
— realistic targets for the new service.
15. We also intend to undertake targeted
activity in the other regions to help them to prepare for full
implementation in September 2005.
16. For the transition year of 2004-05,
the Offenders Learning and Skills Unit will continue to have primary
responsibility for the funding of prisoners' education and training
while individuals are detained in custody. However, local LSCs
have both the power and the discretion to fund or co-fund learning
and development programmes in partnership with the Prison Service
and others where resources are not available within the Prison
Service.
17. The focus for the LSC is to engage offenders
who are close to the end of their sentence in order to promote
continuity of engagement in learning after release. Vocational
programmes at local colleges for those from participating prisons
are eligible for LSC funding. The Offenders Learning and Skills
Unit will notify participating prisons and their respective local
LSCs of their allocation places.
18. Although the trials are taking place
in three specific regions, some local LSCs are already:
— involved with prisons or local networks
to support offenders and ex-offenders;
— working with employers and/or voluntary
bodies to develop prisons as a local resource of skills staff;
and
— working with Government Offices to
secure European Social Fund resources for resettlement initiatives.
19. The experience gained from this activity
will feed into the trial to ensure that any small scale activities
that work well can be tested out on a larger scale, and that the
trials do not focus on activity that is proved not to work.
THE BENEFITS
20. There are a number of clear benefits
of an integrated service, including:
— the flexibility to meet individual
needs within the constraints of the sentence;
— learning and development activities,
which are of the same quality as those available for other learners;
— a clear focus on Skills for Life
provision as well as training in vocational skills;
— continuity as a critical element
throughout the custodial sentence and beyond to keep offenders
engaged;
— an emphasis on learning and skills
outcomes for offenders to form a key part of performance management
and accountability within prisons and the probation service;
— continuity and coherence in sharing
information and transferring records, which is important to allow
the system to focus on the needs of the offender;
— offender access to information, advice
and guidance (IAG); and
— Appropriate availability of e-learning
and effective use of information and communication technology.
TRANSFER TIME
LINE
June-November 2004
— Detailed planning for prototypes
undertaken (planning workshop for three prototype regions took
place on 8 June).
— Development of Common Delivery Framework
and advice to LSC areas to inform planning guidance for 2005-06.
January 2005
April—July 2005
— Final negotiations by LSC with providers
on funding, provision and targets.
July 2005
— End of trial phase and preparation
for wider implementation by September 2005.
Activity so far
— Partnership plans for learning and
skills for offenders in the community have been agreed between
local LSC and National Probation Service areas.
— A high level Steering Group supported
by a Project Board has been established to oversee the transfer,
made up of the Learning and Skills Council, the National Probation
Service, the Prison Service, Youth Justice Board and others.
— The LSC transition team is in place
to take forward implementation plans.
— The prototype regions began their
detailed planning on 8 June.
July 2004
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