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Education (Student Support) (Amendment) Regulations 2008

My Lords, that is an interesting question. It is not easy for prisoners to spend money while they are in prison. I cannot give the noble Baroness a full answer but we have every reason to believe that, where prisoners have received maintenance payments, those payments should be available to them when they are released; I cannot see any reason why they would not. I feel—optimistic is not the right word, because I would rather that I was not now in this position at all. However, I hope that we have taken all reasonable steps to ensure that taxpayers’ money is properly used and that the interests of the rehabilitation of offenders are properly balanced with that. I hope that the House understands that the Government support education and training for prisoners, but that taxpayers cannot be asked to support the maintenance of prisoners who are full-time students and already maintained at public expense. It was important that my right honourable friend John Denham took swift action to close this loophole of a long-standing and unjustifiable use of public funds and, in so doing, protected the taxpayers’ interests. I hope that, after my contribution, the noble Lord will consider withdrawing his Motion.