Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what assessment he has made of the effect of education on the probability of illiterate offenders reoffending.

We need a new emphasis in prisons on rehabilitation. We want prisons to be places of rigorous education where offenders can get the skills to make a success of life on the outside. When so many entering custody lack basic skills in numeracy and literacy, it would be a travesty if we didn’t get them reading and writing when they are in our care. That is why the Justice Secretary has asked Dame Sally Coates to lead a review of education in our prisons.