§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is a fact that permission has been refused for Walter Probyn, a prisoner in Her Majesty's Prison at Gartree, Market Harborough, to receive tuition with a view to qualifying himself for an eventual degree in sociology, although the appropriate department of the University of Essex was willing to make the services of a lecturer available for this purpose.]
§ THE MINISTER OF STATE, HOME OFFICE (LORD WINDLESHAM)No, my Lords. When this prisoner was at Chelms-for he asked for a prison class to be formed in sociology. As the demand from other prisoners was too limited to justify the cost of such a class he was offered tuition by means of a correspondence course. The prison authorities were aware that his legal advisers were in touch 5 with the University of Essex. But no offer of tuition for the prisoner had reached the prison authorities from that quarter. Nor have firm proposals been put to them since. The education service at Gartree prison is helping the prisoner to choose a suitable correspondence course.
§ BARONESS WOOTTON OF ABINGERMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for his Answer. Would he agree that for an extremely intelligent and articulate man a modicum of personal tuition, if it can be arranged, is much to be preferred to a correspondence course? If a sufficient number of prisoners wish to take this course in Gartree Prison, and a more accessible university than Essex can provide facilities for extra-mural teaching in sociology, will this have favourable consideration?
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, the prison education system offers a wide range of classes in conventional subjects, and where there are sufficient numbers arrangements are made to form a class. That answers the second part of the supplementary question. Individual interests and preparation for degree courses are normally met by correspondence courses but supplemented at appropriate stages by face-to-face tuition. In this instance we believe that a correspondence course, aimed initially at G.C.E. O-level, supplemented by personal tuition where possible, is the correct approach.
§ LORD WYNNE-JONESMy Lords, can the noble Lord say whether the prison authorities would allow such a person to register as a student in the Open University?
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, the Open University does not in all cases insist on G.C.E. qualifications and an arrangement has been entered into on an experimental basis to allow prisoners from two prisons to participate in the Open University courses when it starts in January of next year. Gartree is not one of those prisons.
§ BARONESS STOCKSMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord this question? Suppose the University of Leicester, which I gather is in very close proximity to the prison where Walter Probyn now is, expressed a willingness to allow a member of its staff to do some personal coaching, would the case be reconsidered?
§ LORD WINDLESHAMMy Lords, no formal application has yet been received from the University of Leicester or from elsewhere, but any offer of tuition which is made would be carefully considered.
LORD HAWKEMy Lords, is it a fact that there is considerable unemployment among graduates in this particular subject? If that is so, could not this talented young man be encouraged to take up some sort of subject in which he is more likely to earn a living after he leaves prison?