§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
What effect they consider the privatisation of prison education services has had on the morale of prison education staff; how many of those staff have been issued with redundancy notices, and how many have been first issued with redundancy notices and then with revocation of the notices.
Earl FerrersResponsibility for the subject of this question has been delegated to the prison service agency and its Director General Mr. Derek Lewis. The agency has therefore responded to the question, and their letter is given below.
Letter from Mr. Derek Lewis, Director General, to the Lord Avebury, dated 6th May 1993.
Lord Ferrers has asked me to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about education staff employed in prison establishments in England and Wales.
Education services in prison establishments in England and Wales are not being privatised. Previous arrangements had to be changed because local education authorities, who were the providers, are from 1st April 1993 no longer primarily responsible for the provision of further education in the community. Competitive tendering offered the prison service the best guarantee of securing quality and value for money in the provision of education services.
Competition brings to the public sector the same challenges and demands for efficiency already required of those employed in the private sector. Staff who provide education services in prison establishments are not employed by the prison service and decisions on redundancy are a matter for their employers.