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Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Bill

I support this amendment, and I am interested that the figure of 30 hours should be mentioned. The figure has not been plucked out of the air; it is in fact the figure currently required for adults in all private sector prisons, who have to reach 30 hours "purposeful activity", as it is called. It seems to me an excellent description of what should be done. I have always described what I think should happen for prisoners as a full, purposeful and active day, starting early in the morning and ending with them going to bed tired at night. This is particularly true of young offenders. When I was researching what we could do for young prisoners I saw that the state of Massachusetts has a full, purposeful and active day which is divided in two. Half is training, and that includes education and work skills, and half is community reparation. It is worth thinking about the fact that activities can be given that widen the day. Those certainly ought to be included to get young people out of their cells, where far too many of them spend far too long doing absolutely nothing. I have two comments. On one occasion I talked to the head of learning and skills at a young offender institution who told me that her first task was to motivate people to want to learn. As they had rejected education and schooling it was no good sending them back to the classroom until they had been motivated. Activities such as working out how to measure the football field and then doing it and then writing a letter about their favourite footballer, or building a wall and then counting how many bricks they needed, brought education home to them. You need time to do those things, and they can count as education. The other thing, which the noble Lord, Lord Lucas, mentioned, is the private sector. One of the saddest things for me every year is being invited to the birthday celebration of an organisation called the Voluntary Education Scheme, which started work in Feltham 15 years ago and in which outside volunteers come into Feltham to conduct one-to-one mentoring with young people on basic education needs. It is a marvellous programme and both the Inspectorate of Prisons and Ofsted have commended it year after year. Year after year, it is ignored. It could be put into every single place now. There are masses of volunteers around the country who would be only too willing to come and do this one to one. It is frustrated by the fact that the authorities seem unwilling to pick it up. It is also frustrating that, all too often, just as they have started to begin a working relationship with someone, he is moved. I do hope that in all these activities the Government give a very firm commitment to ensure that once someone has embarked on an education course they are not moved from the establishment where that is happening until that course is completed. If the Minister cares to look at the track record in young offender institutions of courses completed, as opposed to courses started, she will find that literally millions of pounds have been wasted because the opportunity has not been provided for the course to be completed and the full value to be gained.