Oral Answers to Questions

David Nuttall Excerpts

Thursday 9th June 2011 Commons Chamber

[Mr David Burrowes (Enfield, Southgate) (Con)]

6. What steps he plans to take to provide relevant skills to offenders to enable them to find work when they leave prison.

[Mr David Nuttall (Bury North) (Con)]

16. What steps he plans to take to provide offenders with relevant skills and training in order to help them find work when they leave prison.

[The Minister for Further Education, Skills and Lifelong Learning (Mr John Hayes)]

On 18 May, to great acclaim, I launched “Making prisons work: skills for rehabilitation”, the report on offender learning that I commissioned last summer. It sets out a substantial programme of reform to increase the positive impact of offender learning on reoffending rates and on former prisoners’ capacity to reintegrate successfully into civil society.

[Mr Hayes]

Yes, I do recognise that, which was why, in the review that I published, we put the emphasis on employability skills. For someone to leave the life of crime, another life must pay for them, which means getting and keeping a job. I met National Grid this week, actually, to discuss skills issues, and I congratulate it on its work and my hon. Friend on championing the issue.

[Mr Nuttall]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the longer the period for which an offender is able to benefit from training programmes, the more likely it is that they can acquire the skills necessary to find work when they leave custody?

[Mr Hayes]

I learned early on never to stray outside my purview or pitch above my pay grade. Suffice it to say that progression is critical, so what people learn in prison must be progressive. They must be able to take up and complete their studies when they leave, so that they can get qualified, get a job and get on.