Prison education

That this House notes the importance of prison education being at the heart of rehabilitation, and its power to unlock potential and reduce reoffending; is alarmed by the dire state of prison education, with experts and authoritative bodies including the Chief Inspector of Prisons, Ofsted and the Education Select Committee warning of poor outcomes due to a lack of learning by prisoners; believes the current for-profit system of prison education wastes millions of pounds of public money each year and encourages a race to the bottom between the four main providers in terms of quality of education, suitability of curricula and conditions of staff employment; and therefore calls on the Government to use their pledged launch of a Prisoner Education Service to bring the delivery of prison education back into the public sector, with standardised qualifications, curricula and staff contracts.