To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their approach to prisoner education takes account of the research by A. Pike and T. Irwin into improving access to higher education and distance learning in prisons. [HL1962]

Yes it does. The Government have taken close account of the research conclusions in Improving Access to Higher Education and Distance Learning in Prisons in developing strategies for the delivery of learning in custody through modern technologies.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether their approach to prisoner education takes account of Wings of Learning: the role of the prison officer in supporting prisoner education by T. Braggins and J. Talbot. [HL1963]

There is no explicit reference to learning advocates in the prison officer role. The majority of education delivered in prisons in England and Wales is delivered by trained teachers though there are a number of officer instructors who work and supervise prisoners in workshops. Prison officers have a number of tasks to fill which will change depending on their existing role. But a key component of the vast majority of an officer's role will involve interacting, supporting and encouraging prisoners. Part of this process will be to encourage and motivate those prisoners who will benefit from education.

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether, following the transfer of responsibility for the education of young offenders from Learning and Skills Councils to local authorities, funds from local authorities to provide education to young offenders may be used to fund the development of prison officers as learning advocates, the training of prison officers in paired reading or the development of prison officers in supporting prisoner education. [HL1964]

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) assumed responsibility for the planning and funding of learning and skills delivery in public sector prisons and young offenders' institutions (YOIs) in England, in August 2006.

Last year, the LSC extended an invitation to tender (ITT) as part of a procurement process for learning and skills provision in YOIs and adult prisons; these contracts commenced on 1 August 2009 as part of a new five-year contracting round.

From September 2010 the contracts will transfer to the host local authorities (LA) (the LA area within which the YOI is based). In assuming their new responsibilities the host LAs will inherit an agreed bed price funding methodology for YOIs. The bed price is based on a national education cost per custodial place. The bed price requires the education provider to deliver a minimum of 15 hours of learning and skills per young person, per week. The funds will be voted by the Government to LAs through the Young People's Learning Agency (YPLA).

The Youth Justice Board (YJB) recently funded a project at HMYOI Wetherby which trained prison officers to provide a similar function to learning and support assistants. The officers are active participants in the classroom, offering one-to-one support and assisting with group work. A second YJB-funded project at HMYOI Feltham trained prison officers to give them the skills to deliver sessions from an accredited life skills course. The officers deliver sessions on independent living, including budgeting and cooking, as well as writing a CV and preparing for job interviews.