To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills what steps he plans to take in conjunction with the Prison Service to resolve security and other access issues so that serving prisoners may take vocational examinations which are available solely on-line. (153384)

The ‘Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment: Next Steps’, published jointly by the former department for education and skills, the Home Office and the department for Work and Pensions in December 2006 gave a clear commitment to improve the use of technology in delivering learning to offenders in custody, as well as offering more widespread access to ICT qualifications.

DIUS are working closely with NOMS on an initiative to deliver resettlement services electronically to offenders. The Programme for Offender Learning and Resettlement Information Services (POLARIS) is being trialled in selected London prisons to develop a secure means of offering prisoners access to e-learning, including on-line examinations, and other resettlement services.