§ Lord Pilkington of Oxenfordasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether it is conducive to prisoner rehabilitation to have one education place for every 20 men in HM Prison Brixton. [HL3310]
§ The Minister of State, Home Office (Baroness Scotland of Asthal)Brixton has the capacity to provide access to learning within the education department to nearly one in five prisoners at any one time. This will be further enhanced with the opening of a new learning and skills centre in autumn 2003. I will look to senior management in the prison to do all they can to ensure that this capacity is fully utilised.
In addition, Brixton has increased access to learning by offering education and learner support across a range of other activities outside the traditional classroom setting including on the prison wings. This is helping to engage those prisoners whose experiences of schooling have made them resistant to more formal teaching methods.
We want to see enhanced provision of learning and skills in all prisons, with increased prisoner participation supported by greater flexibility in delivery. We are pursuing a programme of quality improvement and investing an additional £110 million over the next three years to bring this about.