§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what was the expenditure per head of prison population, for prison education for(a) each United Kingdom prison and (b) the United Kingdom as a whole, in each year since 1979.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: Total payments to local education authorities and relevant overheads per head of prison population in England and Wales are available only from 1 April 1984, and are shown in the table. Information for individual prison establishments, could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
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Year £ 1984–85 470 1985–86 459 1986–87 402 1987–88 441 1988–89 515 1989–90 620
Year £ 1990–91 740 1991–92 779
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what action he will take to evaluate the standard of education provided by prison education establishments;
(2) what steps he is taking to monitor the quality of services provided within the prison education service.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: The Prison Service already employs professionally qualified education staff in its chief education officer's branch to provide guidance on the evaluation of education programmes and to advise and assist governors to monitor the standard and quality of educational services delivered in prison establishments. Education services for inmates are also inspected by Her Majesty's chief inspector of prisons.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if the curriculum provided within British prisons is comparable with that available within the community.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: Yes. The need to ensure this is one of the main reasons why the present arrangements in England and Wales are being changed and competitive tendering has had to be undertaken. Local education authorities are the current providers of education to inmates in prisons, but from 1 April 1993 they will no longer have the primary responsibility for the provision in the community of the futher education curriculum which most prisoners require.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what arrangements are in force to ensure that prisoners can continue education courses after release from British prisons.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: The Criminal Justice Act 1991 requires that from 1 October 1992 all adult offenders in England and Wales sentenced to one year's imprisonment or more and all young offenders will be supervised in the community after they leave the prison or young offender institution. Prison staff prepare discharge reports which identify to the supervising service, among other things, education and training programmes which the inmate has undertaken in custody and which he or she might usefully continue after release. Where possible, the inmate will be offered help in making any necessary arrangements.
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§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to improve basic education resources for prisoners.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: I refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave to a question by the hon. Member for Bradford, North (Mr. Rooney) on 17 November, Official Report, column 104. Since 1979, the Government have consistently increased in real terms payments to local education authorities for the provision of education in prisons. Competition is directed to ensuring from 1 April 1993 the most effective use of the resources that can be made available by awarding contracts to those providers, whether from the public or private sector, which offer the best combination of quality and price and which reflect the priority of the service.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has concerning the prison experience available to agencies tendering for prison education service contracts which were not existing prison education establishments; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: All organisations that have been invited to tender for the provision of educational services to prisoners were asked to give details of any experience which they had of delivering education provision in prison establishments, and of any other relevant experience.
§ Mr. HinchliffeTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if records of achievement will be kept in respect of prison education; and if these will have national accreditation.
§ Mr. Peter Lloyd[holding answer 16 December 1992]: The terms and conditions of the contracts to be let for provision of educational services in prisons from 1 April 1993 will require providers to introduce nationally accredited records of achievement for prisoners.