Second Special Report - Not just another brick in the wall: why prisoners need an education to climb the ladder of opportunity: Government response to the Committee’s First Report

This is the government's response, published 27 September 2022.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The government accepts many of the Committee's recommendations, some of them in principle, and rejects others, giving reasons such as existing governor flexibility, budgets being "subject to future Spending Review negotiations", and the cost of loans.

• On pay, it "reject[s]" equalising education and prison work pay, saying governors "already have the necessary freedom to set local pay rates" and that it does "not propose to set additional rules on pay".
• It rejects setting a date for broadband in all prisons: in-cell laptop services will be in 15 prisons by the end of October 2022, but wider rollout is "subject to continued and long-term resourcing".
• It accepts "in principle" the call for a review of the prison education framework by the end of 2022, but says "it would not be feasible to complete this within the timescales provided".
• It accepts the recommendation on employment hubs, committing that "By April 2023, all resettlement prisons will have an employment hub in place". It rejects removing the "six-year rule" for higher education loans.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error