Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps she plans to take to tackle the shortage of qualified (a) teachers and (b) staff to provide literacy education in prisons.

The recruitment of qualified teachers is primarily a matter for the prison education providers. HMPPS is working with education providers to reduce teacher vacancies. The vacancy rate for all providers has reduced over the last few months. As of 15 December 2024 it was 4%, reducing from 5% in November 2024 and 7% in October 2024.

HMPPS has contractual levers in place to ensure that literacy courses are delivered, with financial penalties for non-delivery. Providers must deliver 95% of commissioned courses due to vacancies, or take a 2% financial penalty. We also do not pay for any commissioned education which is not delivered.