Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many prisons have a reading (a) strategy and (b) programme.

All prisons screen prisoners on arrival for reading ability and offer a curriculum with reading as part of the Entry Level, Level 1 and Level 2 English courses.

Courses delivered under the Prison Education Framework (PEF) include both accredited and non-accredited courses, commissioned by the Governor. To support and promote local reading strategies, prisons have procured additional reading services through the Prison Education Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS). These provide further screening and assessment and deliver tailored support to prisoners with learning disabilities or difficulties, or prisoners who are speakers of other languages with English needs. The Prison Education DPS has been used since 2020 to deliver 96 call-off contracts for reading and literacy support in 85 prisons. These contracts have a combined value of £5.97 million.

It is not possible to provide information on how many prisons have offered courses in reading programmes in each of the last ten financial years, or how many teachers were employed over that period. In 2025, 1554 teachers were employed in public sector prisons in England.