Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Prison Education Service for (a) increasing literacy, (b) reducing reoffending and (c) increasing employment opportunities for ex-offenders.

There is good evidence relating to the positive impact of prison education and we continue to carry out evaluation and work to link data to better understand outcomes for prison learners.

Literacy provision is a significant element of the current education offer, with all prisons offering functional skills qualifications in Literacy from Entry Level to Level 2.

From 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023, the number of prison learners participating in a functional skills course (English and maths) increased by 71%, from 16,866 to 28,832. Prisoners achieving a full or partial grade increased by 80% from 10,755 to 19,329.

There is good evidence that participation in any form of in-prison education reduces reoffending by up to 9 percentage points. Research from 2018 also showed that learners were significantly more likely to be in P45 employment one year from release, than non-learners (by 1.8 percentage points).

We are continuing to evaluate education initiatives such as the recent Literacy Innovation Fund and Future Skills Projects to add to our knowledge of what works. To further build understanding, the Better Outcomes through Linked Data programme is developing the quantitative evidence base with the aim of understanding the role of different types of prison education in contributing to positive employment outcomes.