Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the press release entitled New Prison Education Service to cut crime, published on 29 September 2023, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of giving prison governors in five prisons increased freedom to organise education, skills and work programmes in their prisons.

Under the current Prison Education Framework, prison governors have the freedom to design and organise delivery of education, skills and work in their prisons. This is further enabled through the Dynamic Purchasing System, which allows for the commissioning of courses in accordance with local learner need. Governor freedoms over education, skills and work will continue under the new Prisoner Education Service. Heads of Education, Skills and Work have already been introduced in all prisons to ensure Governors have the specialist knowledge and skills to maximise impact of these freedoms.

Work to increase governor freedoms in five jails was paused earlier this year to ensure successful delivery of the new Prisoner Education Service. Once this is fully mobilised in 2025, consideration of localised provision of education, skills and work will be explored further.