31 October 2008
By Julie Read
The Offenders' Learning and Skills Service came under fire this week by a group of senior MPs for its failure to deliver essential education and skills to prisoners and offenders.
The service – set up to overcome the long-standing problems that have undermined attempts to provide education to prisoners and offenders – has failed in almost every respect, said the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
In its report Meeting needs? The Offenders' Learning and Skills Service, the PAC highlighted bad funding arrangements, poor service delivery and inadequate joint working between the service, the prison service and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills.
PAC chair Edward Leigh MP said: 'Funding is distributed between prisons without reference to need. A quarter of prisoners have no screening or assessment for learning and skills, making it very difficult to plan useful provision.' There were no consistent records of the progress made by prisoners, he added.
'Much more needs to be done to equip offenders with skills which realistically prepare them for jobs in the local labour market.' Claire Bassett, operations director at crime reduction charity Nacro, said: 'This scathing report highlights the unacceptable state of offender learning both in prison and for those on probation.
'The tragedy is that getting it right would pay huge dividends for crime reduction, as gaining employment reduces the likelihood of reoffending by between a third and a half.'
The Learning and Skills Council took over responsibility for Olass in 2003, and it was rolled out across England in July 2006 to provide a single integrated service for offenders.
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