Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to improve data collection on the rate of learning disabilities among those in the prison system.

The implementation of Personal Learning Plans for all prisoners, together with the introduction, by 2024, of Neurodiversity Support Managers (NSMs) in all English and Welsh prisons, will help us to improve data collection in relation to prisoners who may need support with their learning and development.

As of January 2023, 51 NSMs have been recruited, and we are actively championing Autism Accreditation across the prison estate to increase support for neurodivergent people.

Since April 2019, 173,885 Learning Difficulties and Disabilities assessments have been conducted, with 91,987 prisoners receiving active support.