Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, with reference to the letter from National Chair of Independent Monitoring Boards dated 22 September 2020 to the Chair of the Justice Select Committee, whether there is central HM Prison and Probation Service guidance that education staff may not seek to engage prisoners individually on wings in order to remotivate their interest in education following its suspension during covid-19 restrictions.

The Exceptional Delivery Model (EDM) directs staff responsible for education, provider staff, key workers and prison staff, such as the Learning and Skills Manager, to engage with learners. Decisions about how current and potential learners are engaged and motivated to engage is a local decision taken with reference to local Safe Systems of Work. These are in place to minimise the number of people entering wings in order to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infections being introduced.

Under this guidance provider staff are able to access wings as a means of enabling in cell learning and facilitating one to one activities.