Prisons: Education and Employment
Question
Steve Reed
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what estimate he has made of the proportion of prisons that have been graded inadequate or requires improvement for education, skills and work in each of the last 12 years.
Answer
Damian HindsThis information is published annually by Ofsted. The latest Annual Report of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2021-22 can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/Ofsted-annual-report-202122-education-childrens-services-and-skills/the-annual-report-of-his-majestys-chief-inspector-of-education-childrens-services-and-skills-202122#prisons.
H M Prison & Probation Service closely monitors work in response to Ofsted recommendations, and tracks progress against them for both the prison and the provider. Prison regimes had to be severely restricted during the Covid-19 pandemic, and were slow to recover. While this was beyond the control of the education providers, it has inevitably had an impact on grade profiles. However, recent Ofsted inspections have started to see an improvement in both the narrative and grades.