Written question asked by Ed Davey (Liberal Democrat) on Friday, 13 January 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 17 January 2006. It was answered by Fiona Mactaggart (Labour) on Thursday, 26 January 2006 on behalf of the Home Office.

Prisoners (Literacy)

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what research his Department has commissioned into strategies to raise the reading age of serving prisoners whose reading age is significantly below the national average for their age group.

Answer: Calculation of age-related average reading scores is only feasible for children up to about the age of 16, and adults have neither individual reading ages nor average ones for separate age groups.However, a few studies have been conducted expressly on this topic. In 2005, the Home Office published findings based on a longitudinal evaluation of basic skills training for prisoners which indicated that the only significant predictor to improved literacy and numeracy was the amount of training received (over 30 hours). This can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/r260.pdfpercent5D The Home Office has also developed a new longitudinal study of prisoners that aims to explore how interventions, including education and employment programmes, might work in combination to address the range of prisoners' needs.The study, Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR), began in late 2005 and is of four years duration. It should greatly improve our knowledge about the nature of prisoners problems and needs on reception, how prison interventions are targeted, the extent of association between participation in interventions and post-release outcomes, as well as which prisoners benefit the most from interventions.

Secondary information