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Written question asked by Charles Hendry (Conservative) on Monday, 1 March 2004, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 16 March 2004. It was answered by Paul Goggins (Labour) on Tuesday, 16 March 2004 on behalf of the Home Office.

Home Office

Question
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what the average proportion of prisoners who were (a) illiterate and (b) innumerate on (i) entering and (ii) leaving prison was in each year since 1997; what the average proportion of young offenders who were (a) illiterate and (b) innumerate on (i) entering and (ii) leaving young offenders institutions was in each year since 1997. - Inc tables.
Answer

Charles Hendry: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department (1) what the average proportion of prisoners who were (a) illiterate and (b) innumerate on (i) entering and (ii) leaving prison was in each year since 1997; [158733] (2) what the average proportion of young offenders who were (a) illiterate and (b) innumerate on (i) entering and (ii) leaving young offenders institutions was in each year since 1997. [158735] Paul Goggins: The following table shows the proportion of young offenders and other prisoners assessed on reception into prison as having literacy and numeracy skills at or below level 1. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Percentage at or below level 1 Literacy Numeracy 2002-03 Young offenders 81.7 78.1 Prisoners1 69.9 70.7 2001-02 Young offenders 78.1 72.9 Prisoners1 73.9 67.2 2000-01 Young offenders 72.7 75.0 Prisoners 61.6 65.5 1999-2000 Young offenders 72.0 80.8 Prisoners 74.3 64.0 1998-99 Young offenders 70.0 77.6 Prisoners 68.5 66.4 1997-98 Young offenders 68.5 82.4 Prisoners 55.9 66.8 _________________________________________________________________________________________________. The Prison Service does not currently have systems for tracking individual prisoner progress. The following table sets out prisoner achievement against our literacy and numeracy targets since 2000-01. _________________________________________________________________________________________________. Target Achievement 2000-01 14,500 (level 2) 12,500 (86%) 2001-02 18,000 (level 2) 16,000 2002-03 28,800 (all levels) 41,518 (144%) Of which: 6,000 (entry) 9,120 12,000 (level 1) 17,208 10,800 (level 2) 15,190 2003-041 36,676 (all levels) 38,464 (105%) Of which: 8,1 17 (entry) 11,223 14,501 (level 1) 15,694 14,058 (level 2) 11,547 2004-05 60,000 (all levels) _________________________________________________________________________________________________. 1 To January 2004.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
419 c188W; 158733;158735
Session
2003-04
Subjects
Education Prisoners Prisons Standards Young offenders Literacy Numeracy
Contains statistics
Yes
Link
View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk