Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many teaching posts in prisons are currently vacant.
As of 20 June 2019, there were 138 teaching posts reported vacant by the education providers who deliver services to 102 establishments in England under the Prison Education Framework.
New education contracts have recently been put in place across England which has resulted in some churn in staffing. This is being managed by our providers via the monitoring of Teacher Quality Management Plans that they must have in place, which detail vacancies and proposed actions for filling them.
We must ensure that offenders leave prison with the basic skills that are essential to entering the workplace and with the skills employers need. That is why we have put governors in full control of the education provided in their prisons so that they can tailor it, both to their specific populations and for the local jobs market.