§ Mr OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how much the Open University has spent on funding distance learning courses for prisoners in each of the last five years for which figures are available. [82459]
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[holding answer 25 November 2002]Students in prison follow the same courses as all other Open University students, although the Open University does incur additional costs in terms of tailoring the presentation of the course to prisoner students. These additional costs in England and Wales, for which assistance is provided by the Home Office and DfES, are shown in the following table:190W
OU Financial Years £000 1 August-31 July 1997–98 94,980 1998–99 105,291 1999–2000 84,455 2000–01 99,014 2001–02 108,000 This does not cover Open University staff time to manage provision of services to prisoners.
Students in prisons are not entitled to the standard student support arrangements for part-time students. However, the Open University offers fee waivers subject to certain conditions. The following table shows the cost to the Open University of fee waivers for prisoners in the United Kingdom:
OU Financial Years £000 1 August-31 July 2000–01 137,920 2001–02 149,150 2002–03 1100,648 1 committed this year to date
§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many prisoners were undertaking level 1 Open University courses during the last 12 months for which figures are available. [82460]
§ Mr. Ivan Lewis[holding answer November 2002]The following table shows the number of prisoners in each of the countries of the United Kingdom who are taking level 1 Open University courses in 2001– 02. It also shows the total number of students in prison who are studying with the Open University.
England Wales Scotland N. Ireland Total UK Level 1 143 0 5 2 150 All levels 420 3 17 14 454