11. To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what steps his Department is taking to provide literacy skills to functionally illiterate prisoners. (272273)

Developing literacy and numeracy of prisoners is a key part of the Government's strategy to reduce reoffending. We have implemented the Offenders' Learning and Skills Service which in the academic year 2007/08 saw prisoners, assessed as having a literacy need, enrol on to a total of 50,936 accredited literacy courses.