Prisons: Education

Mrs. Gillan
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what companies have been contracted to provide education services to each prison in Wales in each of the last five years; what the value of each contract was; and what courses were provided under each contract.

Mr. Hanson
From 1998 until end of August 2005 the provision of education services for all public prisons in Wales was contracted to Coleg Gwent. Since then the Prison Service has directly employed teaching staff to deliver education services in Wales and to arrange specific specialist courses to be provided.

The following table shows the total funding for education services, including library provision, in each of the last five years in public prisons in Wales, which are Cardiff, Usk and Prescoed and Swansea.

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|       |£ million|
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|2004-05|1.6      |
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|2005-06|1.8      |
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|2006-07|2.1      |
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|2007-08|2.2      |
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|2008-09|2.3      |
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In general the courses delivered in each year during the five year period across the prison estate included the following:

Basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Key communication skills.

Generic courses such as the Arts, English, Maths, Creative Writing, Welsh.

Vocational courses such as Food Safety and Hygiene, painting and decorating.

Personal and Social skills.

Employability skills such as First Aid and Health and Safety.

Further Education and Open University courses.

HMP/YOI Parc is a contracted prison and provides education services as part of the overall contract delivery. In addition to the core services which are equivalent to those delivered in HMPS establishments, a supplementary allocation is provided to support the education provision at the prison as follows:

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|       |£      |
-----------------
|2004-05|195,000|
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|2005-06|195,000|
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|2006-07|195,000|
-----------------
|2007-08|195,000|
-----------------
|2008-09|195,000|
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In general the courses delivered in each year during the five year period included the following:

Basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Key communication skills.

Generic courses such as the Arts, English, Psychology, Maths, Creative Writing,

Vocational skills such as food hygiene, painting and decorating.

Personal and Social skills.

Employability skills such as First Aid and Health and Safety.

Further Education and Open University.