Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment … · Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment 6 ... society, the rewards will be great. ... Reducing Re-Offending

Reducing Re-Offending ThroughSkills and Employment

£16.25Cm 6702

Reducing Re-Offending ThroughSkills and Employment

Presented to Parliament by the Secretary of State for Education and Skillsby Command of Her Majesty

December 2005

© Crown Copyright 2005

The text in this document (excluding the Royal Arms and departmental logos)may be reproduced

free of charge in any format or medium providing that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and

the title of the document specified.Any enquiries relating to the copyright in this document should be addressed to The Licensing Division,

HMSO, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich, NR3 1BQ.Fax: 01603 723000 or e-mail: [email protected]

Executive Summary

Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment 6

Chapter 1

The Challenge of Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment 9

Chapter 2

Progress to Date 14

Chapter 3

Looking Forward 17

Chapter 4

The Government’s Vision for Change – Trained for Employment, Skilled for Life 20

Chapter 5

Youth Justice: 16- and 17-Year Old Offenders 42

Contents

4

Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment

Foreword

Stopping criminals re-offending is an important aimof any criminal justice system. We will always seek to punish offenders. Those who commit the mostserious crimes, and pose the greatest risk to thepublic, must expect their punishment to be severe.But we cannot properly protect the public byfocusing on punishment alone; we must alsoaddress the underlying causes of crime. We can bestprotect society by making a positive and lastingdifference to individual offenders. To that end, theGovernment aims to help offenders become moreproductive members of society.

Since 1997 we have introduced:

■ A clearer sentencing framework (through theCriminal Justice Act, 2003), with new flexibilityto help judges and prisons and probationservices protect the public and help offendersturn away from crime;

■ A National Offender Management Service(NOMS), to ensure better management ofoffenders’ sentences;

■ More effective education and training throughthe Offender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS).

These are substantial reforms that are alreadydelivering results on the ground. We have come a long way, but our ambitions do not stop here. This strategy document sets out how we plan tobuild on these successes through concerted actionto improve offenders’ skills and job prospects. This will complement our national action plan toreduce re-offending.

As the document makes clear, this is a hugechallenge, and there are no easy answers. But, if wecan turn offenders away from crime and give themthe tools to exercise better judgement and becomemore constructive and productive members ofsociety, the rewards will be great. The first part ofthis paper sets out what has been achieved so far,the key challenges remaining, the opportunitiespresented by improved offender management, anda new role for mainstream agencies – the Learningand Skills Councils and Jobcentre Plus – in the taskof reducing re-offending.

The second part of this paper outlines our strategyfor building on that foundation. We want to build a modern correctional system, focused onrehabilitation, working in partnership withemployers and those able to provide high-qualitytraining. Key proposals include a stronger focus on jobs, with more relevant skills training, led byemployer needs; a new ‘employability contract’ foroffenders, with incentives for participation; and a‘campus’ model for learning to ensure continuity ofeducation from prisons into the community.

We welcome the widest possible discussion onthese proposals. This is a challenge that will only betackled successfully in partnership, and with theinvaluable help and advice of all those with aninvolvement or interest.

5

Charles Clarke

Home Secretary

Ruth Kelly

Secretary of State for

Education and Skills

John Hutton

Secretary of State for

Work and Pensions

6


Executive Summary

This Green Paper sets out how offenders can bebetter trained and helped to get jobs. Thesesuggestions are offered for consultation, and wewelcome views from all those with an interest.

Any strategy to reduce re-offending must have at its heart the obvious duty on the part of theGovernment to protect citizens from crime, and toact against those who break the law. Sentencesmust ensure that offenders are punished for theircrimes. They must also be robust, and efficientlyenforced, so that they deter would-be criminals.

However, punishment and deterrence are notenough in themselves. Government also has a roleto play in addressing problems that can lead somepeople into crime. Alongside substance abuse, poorhousing or broken relationships, low skills and lackof employment can be major obstacles to anoffender living free of crime, and becoming a moreproductive member of society.

The Government will publish in the New Year a five-year strategy for reducing re-offending. To supportthat wider strategy, this Green Paper outlines theGovernment’s vision for tackling poor skills and highlevels of unemployment among offenders.

Raising skills and getting more offenders into jobscan help us tackle repeat offending....

Section 1 sets out the challenge of reducing re-offending through skills and employment.

We must tackle re-offending levels – the largenumbers of people in prison and serving communitysentences are a huge burden on the prison andprobation services and the taxpayer. Releasedprisoners are more likely to re-offend than they are to avoid crime; nearly one in five crimes iscommitted by a former prisoner.

While many factors contribute to re-offending,offenders and ex-offenders tend to have skills levelswell below those of the general population, and aremuch more likely to be unemployed. Yet sustainedemployment is a key to leading a crime-free life.

This section sets out the case for improving skills tohelp move offenders into jobs, and break the cycleof re-offending.

...and a lot has already been done...

Section 2 outlines recent progress in improvingeducation and training for offenders, and in helpingthem find jobs. This includes:

■ An increase in funding for offender learning,from £57 million in 2001-02 to £151 million in 2005-06;

■ External inspection of prison education to thesame tough standards as mainstreameducation and training;

■ An impressive increase in basic skillsqualifications achieved by offenders;

■ Building training into the prison day, alongsideactivities such as prison industries, cateringand physical exercise;

■ More opportunities for offenders to take partin higher education;

■ Support from jobcentres to help offenders find jobs;

■ New research to measure the success of actionto reduce re-offending.

...but a big challenge remains to improve trainingand help more offenders into jobs.

Section 3 outlines the challenges that we now need to address to improve training and jobopportunities for offenders. These include betterquality learning, tailored to individual needs, andmore joined-up delivery. There is much to be doneto improve training in the face of difficultoperational challenges, such as high prisonerpopulations. If training for offenders is to lead tojobs, it must match employer needs and local jobopportunities.

The foundations are already in place to build a moreeffective service. More flexible sentencing powersallow action to be tailored to the needs ofindividuals, and the seriousness of their crimes.

Executive Summary

The National Offender Management Service willensure that a single professional can oversee anoffender’s sentence, in prison and outside. TheLearning and Skills Council is strengtheningeducation and training, while jobcentres will havenew incentives to help offenders into jobs.

To meet this challenge, the Government’s strategyto improve offenders’ skills and employment hasfour key aims...

...to focus strongly on jobs, with employers drivingthe design and delivery of programmes...

To get more offenders into jobs, we will ensure thattraining and qualifications for offenders aremeaningful to employers, so that they can, in turn,offer job opportunities. We will develop newapproaches to help offenders find work. We will consider:

■ Strengthening and extending existingarrangements for assessing, training andplacing offenders into jobs;

■ Introducing a specific Job Developer withinexisting Employer Coalitions to work with localbusiness to identify jobs suitable for offendersand the skills required for those jobs;

■ Piloting a new job placement scheme andensuring jobcentres focus on helping offendersinto jobs rather than placing them on benefit;helping them find work in their last weeks inprison, with work-focused interviews and helpto search for jobs on the Internet;

■ Whether we can develop stronger incentivesstructures.

At the heart of the strategy will be new allianceswith employers, targeting specific industrial sectorswith labour shortages and work to developmentoring and other support to help offenders getwork and keep it.

...to ensure that training providers and colleges arebetter able to provide the skills offenders need toget a job...

We have improved education and training foroffenders in recent years, but there is still some wayto go to ensure that it is consistently high qualityacross the country, both within prisons and in thecommunity. Our proposals in this area include:

■ A new, integrated and higher quality offenderlearning and skills service in place from August2006 in each English region;

■ A strong focus on the skills to help moreoffenders into jobs;

■ Offenders being, for the first time, a prioritygroup in the plans of the LSC and other bodiessuch as the Quality Improvement Agency(which focuses on further educationstandards);

■ Electronic transfer of individual learningrecords, to resolve a long-standing failing inthe service;

■ Inspection of all offender learning, to drive up quality;

■ Piloting of a new model for delivery – the‘Offender Learner Campus’ – to develop newcentres of excellence and better links withmainstream education and training.

...to promote a new emphasis on skills and jobs foroffenders across prisons and probation...

Past efforts to improve training and jobopportunities for offenders have been hampered bya lack of continuity through the system, with somepeople ‘falling through the net’ on moving prison oron release. The Government will ensure that prisonand probation services work together so thatimproving skills and helping more offenders getqualifications and jobs is seen by all as vital inreducing re-offending. New Regional OffenderManagers, working with the LSC, will help matchtraining to job openings.

Our proposals in this area include:

■ Encouraging the full use of flexibility insentencing powers to promote skills andemployment within and alongside prison andcommunity sentences;

7Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment

8

■ A new emphasis on skills and jobs, as thereduction of re-offending is placed at the heartof prison and probation services;

■ Ensuring a single professional hasresponsibility for each offender throughouttheir sentence, managing education andemployment provision as part of a widersentence plan;

■ Exploring ways to help more offendersimprove their skills and get jobs through betterdesign of the prison day and better use ofprison facilities, with skills training built intoother activities such as workshops;

■ In probation services, using unpaid work in thecommunity as an opportunity to improve skillsfor paid work;

■ Exploiting opportunities to use the full range ofprogrammes, such as those tackling offendingbehaviour, to develop job and life skills;

■ Where possible, ensuring that offenders havecontrolled access to technology if this willimprove their skills and find them work.

...to motivate and engage offenders, with the rightbalance of rights and responsibilities.

These reforms provide an opportunity to motivatemore offenders to take the steps needed to improvetheir skills and job prospects, and improve theirchances of living free of crime. We will aim tocombine a range of incentives with other influences(such as sentencing powers), along with high qualitytraining and other support to help more offendersinto jobs. In order to find ways to motivate andengage offenders who may previously have hadnegative learning experiences:

■ We will test a new ‘employability contract’ tomotivate offenders;

■ As well as being expected to find work,offenders will be helped to do so with a rangeof training and employment opportunities;

■ Incentives could include guaranteed jobinterviews, and earned privileges in custody;

■ Responsibilities, where appropriate, could beset out in sentence plans;

■ We will look at issues facing minorities withinthe criminal justice system (women, disabled,or ethnic minority groups) and how thesemight be factored into the contract.

Alongside this, a strong emphasis on educationand training for young offenders.

Evidence suggests that most young offendersrecognise that qualifications, skills and jobs can helpthem lead useful and crime-free lives. The lastsection of the paper outlines work underway tosupport young offenders into training andemployment, for example through the effectiveworking of Youth Offending Teams in partnershipwith other services for children. Key proposals forstrengthening this further include:

■ Ensuring agencies work better together to findways to draw young offenders back intotraining or work;

■ A new curriculum, developed in line with 14-19 reforms, with a work focus designed tomotivate disaffected young people;

■ A review of the LSC funding system, to expandthe range of opportunities on offer, particularlythose delivered through the voluntary sector;

■ More access to programmes that help ensurethat offenders are ready to undertake a job,with a review of procedures for release onlicence;

■ Action to improve education for offendersbelow working age, with consultation onfurther proposals during 2006.

PLEASE NOTE THAT, EXCEPT WHERE STATEDOTHERWISE, PROPOSALS IN THIS PAPER RELATETO OFFENDERS IN ENGLAND. SEE PARAGRAPHS 87 – 89 FOR AN ACCOUNT OF THE WELSHASSEMBLY AGENDA FOR OFFENDER LEARNINGAND SKILLS.

Executive Summary


The Challenge of ReducingRe-Offending Through Skillsand Employment

Chapter 1

1. The Government is determined to place thereduction of re-offending at the heart of the workof prisons and probation services. An importantpart of this strategy is concerted action totransform the skills and employment prospects of offenders. This is an area of policy that has inthe past had a low profile. The Government iskeen for that to change. There is much to do, and the document sets out an ambitious plan ofreform intended to build a service that does farbetter in improving skills and qualifications andgetting offenders into sustainable employment.The whole community has an interest in tacklingoffenders’ skill and job needs. If they can securestable jobs they are less likely to re-offend.

2. This document:

■ Explains the scale of the challenge, and thecase for focusing effort on skills andemployment as part of the reducing re-offending strategy;

■ Sets out the good progress that has beenmade in recent years; increased investment,together with better outputs, especially in theachievement of basic skills qualifications andthe number of offenders going into jobs;

■ Explains that more now needs to be done to better meet the challenges involved inequipping offenders to become moreproductive members of society; and

■ Outlines for consultation the Government’svision for the coming years. Bettermanagement of offenders’ sentences throughthe National Offender Management Service(NOMS), and improved delivery of a newlearning and skills service, through the Learningand Skills Council (LSC), offer an opportunity to push forward a more ambitious programmeof reform, focused on four key areas:

● A strong focus on employment, withemployers leading the design and deliveryof programmes;

● Ensuring that training providers andcolleges are better able to provide theskills offenders need to get a job;

● Greater coherence across the system, witha new emphasis at the heart of prisons andprobation services on helping offendersimprove their skills and get jobs;

● Motivating and engaging offenders, with a strong rights and responsibilities packagetested in a new ‘employability contract’.

10

The Government’s Reducing Re-offending Strategy

3. Reducing re-offending is a central aim of theGovernment’s national strategy against crime.Since 1997, the prison and probation serviceshave undergone significant change to create a system better equipped to support theGovernment’s emphasis on tackling crime and its causes. The National Reducing Re-offendingDelivery Plan, published by the Home Office inNovember 20051 sets out the key actions theGovernment intends to take over the nexteighteen months towards delivery of its target toreduce re-offending by ten per cent by 2010. Thiswork will be backed by regional reducing re-offending strategies, and reducing re-offendingAlliances, established by the Home Office, withthe corporate sector, the voluntary, communityand faith sectors, and with local statutory services.

4. Work with offenders is also important in thecontext of other key government priorities.Offender learners already make a significantcontribution to the national Skills for Life targetfor improvement of literacy, language andnumeracy. Improving the effectiveness of offendereducation can also help us achieve the nationaltarget to cut the number of adults in theworkforce who lack NVQ Level 2 or equivalentqualifications by 40 per cent by 2010. 2 Finally,placing offenders in work contributes to theDepartment for Work and Pensions (DWP) PublicService Agreement to raise employment rates,and to the specific targets for jobs for the leastqualified, most disadvantaged areas, and ethnicminority groups.

5. Released prisoners are more likely to continue tooffend than they are to be rehabilitated. Of alloffenders starting community sentences in thefirst quarter of 2001, 59 per cent were reconvictedwithin two years. 3 It is estimated that formerprisoners account for around 18 per cent of all crime. 4 High levels of re-offending strain an already heavily burdened system. Prisons are

fuller than ever, with the prison population havingrisen by over 60 per cent in the last decade. 5 Intotal, in 2003, around 135,000 offenders were sent to prison while over 130,000 startedcommunity sentences. 6

6. Failure to stop re-offending carries a heavyfinancial and social cost. A former prisoner who re-offends costs the criminal justice system an average of £65,000 up to the point of re-imprisonment, and, after that, as much as£37,500 each year in prison. 7 Re-offending alsocosts society dearly, the total cost of recordedcrime committed by ex-prisoners is estimated ataround £11 billion per year. 8 As well as this – andoften unquantifiable – are the personal costs ofcrime, especially the impact on victims. Thefamilies of offenders are also likely to be facedwith considerable financial and personalconsequences. We know, for example, that boysaged 12-17 with relations or friends who havebeen in trouble with the police are three timesmore likely than others to be offenders. 9 Eachyear around 125,000 children see one of theirparents sent to prison. 10

The Cycle of Crime, and Importance of EarlyInterventions

7. The impact of these wider cycles of crime needs to be investigated further and addressed as part of the new approach to preventing crime. Atendency towards criminal activity can often showitself in early behaviour. Children who truant fromschool and are involved in anti-social behaviourare at greater risk of committing crimes. 11 Oneanswer to this problem lies in good qualityinterventions to divert children at risk of offending.The Government’s approach to this has been setout elsewhere, for example in Every Child Matters:Change for Children, and the Youth MattersGreen Paper. We continue to work with schoolsand parents to emphasise the importance of goodbehaviour and the need to tackle such tendenciesas early as possible.

Chapter 1: The Challenge of Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment

8. An estimated 70,000 school-age offenders 12 enterthe youth justice system each year. Keeping theseyoung people engaged in education and learningis a critical part of helping them to stay away from crime 13 and to thrive. Of those children aged10-16 supervised by Youth Offending Teams(Yots), at least half are not engaged in full-timeeducation. 14 For those 900 or so young offenders 15 under school-leaving age in custody at any one time, there are issues of concern.Although the education of young people incustody is delivered to a demanding specificationset by the Youth Justice Board (YJB), evidencefrom Ofsted inspections and YJB monitoringreports suggests that delivery in Young OffenderInstitutions (YOIs) is patchy, particularly in respectof literacy and numeracy. 16

9. For these children, we miss an opportunity toequip them for a crime-free adult life if we fail toprovide the right education for them as part of a package of interventions. The Government takes very seriously the responsibility to improveoutcomes for these young people. While thisdocument’s focus on employment makes itappropriate to confine the direct scope tooffenders of working age (16 years and over), we are strongly committed to considering theissues affecting school-age offenders and theireducation as a key priority. We will involverelevant departments and agencies in developinga strategy for addressing the issues and publishproposals in the second half of 2006.

10. Similarly, support for the children and families of offenders is an important priority forGovernment. For many offenders, maintainingstrong links with their families and communitiesis a key factor in enabling rehabilitation.Conversely, the breakdown of these links, andthe ensuing isolation, can increase the risk of re-offending. While these children and familiesshould benefit from the Every Child Mattersreforms taking place in local authorities, thereare still major challenges to delivering adequatespecialist support to them in the local

community; understandably they will often notdeclare themselves as ‘families of offenders’. Indue course, there may be a case for addressingissues relating to the children and families ofoffenders, adding to the Change for Childrenagenda to maximise opportunities for partnersand families to work with offenders towardsrehabilitation.

11. Offenders are a varied group. While many are male, white and in their twenties or thirties, a large minority are not. The offender populationincludes women, people from black and minorityethnic groups, people with disabilities, and olderpeople. Better offender management offers theopportunity to address the needs andcircumstances of minority groups of offenders.The challenge will be to focus on building ourknowledge of the most successful interventionsfor these different groups.

The Importance of Skills and Employment forReducing Re-offending

12. An important strand of the strategy to reduce re-offending is concerted action to transform theskills and employment prospects of offenders.The Government is committed to a strongprogramme to improve offenders’ educationalattainment, raise skill levels and secure betteremployment outcomes. Education has, for someyears, played an important part in prisonregimes. Providing opportunities for purposefulactivity, for self-improvement and connection to the world beyond the prison walls, is a vitalfactor in running a humane and decent regime;and useful work forms an important element ofcommunity punishment.


12

13. But the case for improving learning, skills andemployment for offenders goes well beyondthese specific benefits. As Figure 1 suggests,improving skills and employment for offenderscan have a positive impact on the incidence ofre-offending, to the benefit of individuals, theirfamilies and communities, and wider society.

14. The employment prospects of offenders are wellbelow those of the community in general: 67 percent of prisoners were not in work or training inthe four weeks before going to prison and 76 percent of prisoners do not have paid employmentto go to on release. 18 These low rates ofemployment are damaging, to the individualsconcerned and the economy and communitymore widely. Evidence suggests thatemployment and a reduction in re-offending arelinked, 19 and that stability and quality ofemployment, along with the level of satisfactionexpressed towards it, are key factors. 20 Thecomplexity of the multiple needs of offendersoften make them extremely ‘hard to help’. Theseadditional barriers may relate to age, disability, or

ethnicity. But there is a good case for investing in programmes to get more offenders into jobs,and for raising their skill levels to improve theirchances of becoming more productive andsuccessful in employment.

15. There is strong evidence that efforts to get moreoffenders into employment can pay off. Thosewith higher skills (for example with ‘good’ gradesat GCSE – level 2 in the National QualificationsFramework) are more likely to be in employmentthan those without. 21 A recent research reviewfound that interventions focused onemployment can make a significant difference tothe employment rates of offenders. In six out ofseven intervention programmes identified by thereview, offenders in the treatment group weresignificantly more likely to be employed at leastsix months after completion than those in thecomparison groups. The review suggested thatwork in prisons, vocational training andcommunity employment programmes can allhave a positive impact on employment. 22

Chapter 1: The Challenge of Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment

Figure 1 Learning, skills and employment can help break the cycle of offending

PRISON over 77,000

Truancy and exclusion30 per cent of prisoners were regular truants

49 per cent of male sentenced prisoners were excluded

Family effectsIncreased risk factors for children, including poor school performanceand increased likelihood of criminal behaviour.

Every year approx 125,000 children have a parent enter custody

Education and trainingcould help break these cyclesEducation and training programmes for offenders increase likelihood of sustainable employment and reduce re-offending on release

Low skills52 per cent of male and 71 per cent of female prisoners have no qualifications at all.

Proportion of prisoners at or below Level 1 skills (a low level GCSE) in reading: 37 per cent

Reconviction61 per cent of males are reconvicted within two years.

76 per cent of prisoners do not have paid employment to go to on release

Low employment67 per cent of prisonerswere unemployed at timeof imprisonment

17

16. Evidence suggests that a package ofinterventions and support both within prisonand after release is likely to be most effective in reducing the likelihood of re-offending. Anyspecific intervention needs to be viewed in thebroader context of the need for the offender tonormalise their lifestyle and equip themselveswith the necessary skills to function successfullyin society and as an employee. This is one reasonfor the wider reforms of offender management.Done effectively in that broader framework,training to improve offenders’ skills, combinedwith the right employment interventions, canimprove post-release employment levels 23

and make a powerful contribution to reducingre-offending.

The Scale of the Challenge

17. The challenge is stark. As Figure 2 suggests,many offenders have had negative experiencesof education and work. They may well bereluctant learners, often with behaviouralproblems, which create barriers to findingsuccessful long-term employment. Thirty percent of offenders were regular truants fromschool 24 (compared to two per cent of thegeneral population) 25 and 49 per cent of maleprisoners were excluded from school 26

(compared to less than one per cent of thegeneral population). 27 Over half of prisonershave no qualifications at all. 28 It is important tobe realistic: not every offender will benefit orbenefit immediately. But the costs of re-offending are so high that even a marginalimpact is worthwhile.


2%

Figure 2 Offender Learning: the Challenge

30%

1%

49%

16%

37%

15%

52%

5%

General Offenders

67%

Regular truant

Excluded from school

Reading below Level 1

No qualifications

Unemployed

29

14 Chapter 2: Progress to Date

18. In the face of this challenge, a great deal hasalready been achieved:

■ Our commitment in 2001 to improve thequality and quantity of education for prisonershas resulted in a big increase in funding foroffender learning in recent years (from £57million in 2001-02 to £151 million in 2005-06).As well as increasing the volume and quality of learning available for prisoners, this increasehas enabled significant improvements incapacity, for example through the creation of senior Head of Learning and Skills posts in prisons. The introduction of basic skillsattainment targets, in both prison andprobation settings, has raised the profile ofoffender learning needs.

■ Other innovations, such as external inspectionof prisons to the same demanding standards as for other education and training providers,are driving up quality. The Adult LearningInspectorate’s Chief Inspector’s annual reportsfor the last three years show that the‘inadequacy’ rate for learning and skillsprovision in prisons has fallen year-on-yearsince inspections began in 2002.

■ NOMS has a strong focus on the importance ofeducation and training for offenders. Figure 3shows the good progress made since thecommitment in 2001. Indeed, we have gonebeyond prisons with a new focus on thoseunder supervision by the Probation Service.

Progress to Date

Chapter 2

Case Study

Quality improvement resulting from inspection

When Bullingdon Prison was first inspected in September 2002, its leadership andmanagement and quality assurance werejudged to be poor. Inspectors were particularlycritical about the lack of a formal system forreporting on the effectiveness of training andthe progress and achievements of learners.They noted that there was insufficient analysisof learner needs and of emerging trends thatreveal the strengths and weaknesses ofprovision.

After the Head of Learning and Skills wasappointed, he worked with education staff andexternal partners to develop a managementinformation system that could deliver therobust data that underpins effective qualityimprovement. Prisoners’ needs have beenanalysed using a questionnaire and, as a result,additional courses have been provided. Datafrom the initial assessments has been used toinform curriculum planning, and local labourmarket information has been used to informthe vocational training strategy. Data is alsoused to monitor equality of opportunity. On re-inspection, quality assurance was judged to be good, and Bullingdon was the first prisonto be given a grade 2 for Leadership andManagement.

Since 2001, the number of basic skills awardsachieved in prisons has doubled from 25,000 30

to over 63,000 31 in 2004-05. In 2004-05, theNational Probation Directorate(NPD), inpartnership with the LSC, exceeded its annualtarget for basic skills awards with nearly 9,500awards achieved against a target of 8,000. Thisis a big step forward since 2002-03, when therewere only 848 awards. 32

■ An increased emphasis has been placed onprisoner training linked to other regimeactivities, to enable training to be delivered in conjunction with real work in prison in areas such as catering, physical exercise andhorticultural activities. This has been supportedby investing more in capital modernisation:over £7 million spent on building 77classrooms next to workshops and work areasto support training.

■ Support for offenders taking higher educationhas increased significantly in recent years: thenumber of undergraduate opportunities rosefrom 450 in 2002-03 to 1,050 in 2005-06, inaddition to 250 access courses. 34 Alongside this an increase of almost 70 per cent in libraryfunding between 2004-05 and 2006-07 issupporting an enhanced and expanded libraryservice in prisons. 35

■ Good progress has been made in improvingentry to employment. Jobcentre Plus offerssupport, and employment and training adviceto prisoners through employment and benefitsurgeries. This includes careers guidance tohelp offenders reach a realistic job goal whichreflects the availability of jobs in the labourmarket in which the offender lives or intowhich they will be released. Supported byPrison Service investment of £14.5 million, in 2004-05 the Custody to Work initiativehelped achieve 41,000 cases where offendersmoved directly into employment, training or education on release, and over 66,000 into accommodation.


Figure 3 Number of basic skills (Skills for Life) awards achieved

10,000

1997-98 1998-99 1999-00

DfE

S le

ad o

n o

ffen

der

lear

nin

g

Skill

s fo

r Life

str

ateg

y la

un

ched

Mar

ch 2

003

2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05

0

20,000

30,000

40,000

50,000

60,000

70,000

Prison

Probation

33

16

■ The Home Office has developed a newlongitudinal study – Surveying Prisoner CrimeReduction – that will assess the impact ofinterventions, including education andemployment-focused programmes. The surveywill improve our knowledge of the effects of education and work on offenders and ex-offenders. But we recognise that there is still some way to go to ensure that we buildstronger evidence, and one of our keyobjectives will be to draw on domestic andinternational evidence on education andemployment-focused interventions.

■ The voluntary and community sector (VCS) hasan excellent track record in delivering publicservices and already undertakes invaluablework with offenders. The Government iscommitted to expanding that involvement.Work is underway across governmentdepartments to remove the barriers that denythe VCS a level playing field of competition,including ensuring that commissioning andprocurement processes are properly open tothe VCS, and building up VCS capacity toprovide and compete.

Chapter 2: Progress to Date


19. The previous section set out an impressive set of achievements, all the more praiseworthy at a time when the correctional services and theirpartners have had to cope with other pressures,such as the growth in prison population. Allthose working in this field can be proud ofprogress in very challenging circumstances.

20. Nevertheless, significant challenges remain:

■ Progress in delivering qualifications in literacy,numeracy and language has been impressive.But the external inspection of prisons hasshown that the quality of learning and skills inprisons is often disappointing, with quality assurance causing particularconcern. The 78 per cent inspection failure rateof prisons in 2002-03 improved to 55 per centin 2004-05. In 2003-04, half of prisons passedre-inspection, while in 2004-05 the rate rose to two-thirds. 36 This is welcome progress, butthe rate of failure clearly remains unacceptable.We will work with providers and inspectoratesto identify the key levers to drive further rapid improvement.

■ Inspection evidence also tells us that thelearning and skills service on offer is too oftenunresponsive to individual needs, and lackscoherence in assessment, planning andcontinuity between different settings, forexample when prisoners are moved at shortnotice. Better integration between prisons andprobation is urgently required so that prisonerswho engage in learning or prepare foremployment can build effectively on thatactivity when they are released. For offendersin the community, access to appropriatelearning is often problematic.

■ We need to do far better in engaging andmotivating offenders to improve their skills.This is a particular challenge in view of thedifficult past experience of learning for manyoffenders.

■ Enhanced opportunities for education andtraining need to lead to skills and qualificationsthat are meaningful for employers and tostronger prospects of effective re-integrationinto society through work. Activity to improveindividuals’ employability while serving asentence can be better connected to real jobopportunities, with employers more involvedin design and delivery of training.

Looking Forward

Chapter 3

18 Chapter 3: Looking Forward

■ The increasing prison population, and frequentmovement of prisoners between institutions,make it more difficult to deliver effectivelearning and skills.

■ The barriers faced by offenders in getting workneed a multi-agency approach, integrated withother parts of the overall management ofoffenders. The transition of offenders betweenagencies needs to be better managed, withinformation shared effectively.

21. Building on the progress made so far, it is time to strengthen and refocus the way in which weeducate and train offenders, and prepare themfor employment, as part of the wider strategy to bear down on re-offending. The foundationsof a more ambitious approach are already inplace, including:

■ The 2003 Criminal Justice Act, which creates a new sentencing framework that is central toreducing crime and re-offending. The Actincreases the flexibility of community orders,and makes reform and rehabilitation one of the statutory purposes of sentencing. The new Community Sentence, and the shortprison sentence, Custody Plus, when it isimplemented, will offer a menu ofinterventions and levels of supervision thatcan be individually tailored to match risk, need and the seriousness of the offence. These‘requirements’ may include compulsoryactivities aimed at rehabilitation (includingeducation or training), and the offender maybe sanctioned for not complying with them.The aim is to enable as many non-dangerousoffenders as possible to be dealt with in thecommunity – making it easier to retain linkswith employers and family.

■ The introduction of the National OffenderManagement Service, bringing with it end-to-end offender management, with the sentencemanagement of offenders undertaken by asingle offender manager. Regional OffenderManagers (ROMs) are establishing regionalstrategies for reducing re-offending, creatingregional and local alliances to help meet theneeds of offenders. We now have, for the first

time, the means to co-ordinate issues thatpreviously fell between the remit of differentagencies. This will increasingly enable theprison and probation elements of an offender’ssentence to be managed as a whole. Morecoherent sentence planning and offendermanagement provide an opportunity to planinterventions to improve skills andemployability in the context of other support(for example, offending behaviour or drugsprogrammes). The changes also improve thecapacity to ensure that rehabilitation workstarted in prison continues in the communityafter release.

■ The Youth Justice Board (YJB) oversees theyouth justice system in England and Wales. Itworks to prevent offending and re-offendingby children and young people under the age of18, and to ensure that custody for them is safe,secure, and addresses the causes of theiroffending behaviour. Specifically, the YJBmonitors the performance of the youth justicesystem, identifies and promotes effectivepractice, and makes grants to local authoritiesor other bodies to support effective outcomes.

■ Jobcentre Plus will now track offenderoutcomes. Offenders, among other groupsfacing the most severe disadvantage, are nowwithin the Jobcentre Plus target structure for2006-07, providing greater incentives toadvisers to help offenders find work. DWP isexploring further whether targets can betterreflect the severe obstacles some individualsmay face in finding work. An approach builtaround multiple disadvantage would covermost of those with criminal records. It wouldlink more directly to targeted interventions, and match our understanding of the way thatemployment chances decrease with thenumber of barriers. This work is at an early stagebut will be taken forward by DWP in 2006.

■ Prisons already arrange Freshstart interviewswith Jobcentre Plus, which brings forward thedate of claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance,typically, to the day after release. We arecommitted to resolving the ‘finance gap’between release from prison and the first

benefit payment. We will develop a way ofbridging the gap to motivate offenders toengage with the requirement to seek work.

■ The development of a new Offender Learningand Skills Service, planned and funded by theLSC, covers for the first time offenders incustody and in the community. This providesan important framework within which to raiseand refocus standards in learning and skills.The service goes with the grain of offendermanagement. A strong focus on earlyassessment of learning needs, and goodplanning in the context of the overall sentenceplan, should support better educationaloutcomes and progression into otheropportunities and employment.


20

22. The Government’s future strategy for offenderskills and employment comprises:

■ An ambitious programme of reform during2006-07: to build a higher quality, integratedlearning and skills service, and to consolidaterecent progress in creating a new focus onsupporting more offenders into jobs; and

■ Looking forward, an increasingly strong focuson employment: to build a robust programmeto raise the skills and qualifications of offendersand – particularly through engagement withemployers – help more offenders intosustainable employment. It is this forwardphase of reform on which the Governmentparticularly seeks views.

23. The reform strategy will focus on four key areas:

a. A strong focus on employment, withemployers leading the design and delivery of programmes.

b. Ensuring that training provides and collegesare better able to provide the skills offendersneed to get a job.

c. Greater coherence across the system, with anew emphasis at the heart of prisons andprobation services on helping offendersimprove their skills and get jobs.

d. Motivating and engaging offenders, with astrong package of rights and responsibilitiesincluding a new ‘employability contract’.

Chapter 4: The Government’s Vision for Change – Trained for Employment, Skilled for Life

The Government’s Visionfor Change – Trained for Employment, Skilled for Life

Chapter 4

A. A STRONG FOCUS ON EMPLOYMENT, WITHEMPLOYERS LEADING THE DESIGN ANDDELIVERY OF PROGRAMMES

24. Employment is a key factor in reducing re-offending. Increasing the employment rate of offenders can also contribute to theGovernment’s aim to promote both economicgrowth and social inclusion. There is evidencethat unemployment is high among offenders,with some 67 per cent being unemployed beforetheir sentence and 76 per cent not having a jobto go to on release. However, at present, we haveno robust data on employment rates. As part ofour wider strategy we intend to improve ourknowledge about the offender employment rate,with an aspiration over time to increase it.

25. Offenders will only gain, and progress in,employment if employers see advantage inrecruiting, training and retaining them. In theWhite Paper Getting on in Business, Getting onat Work 37 we made a commitment to employersthat publicly-funded training and qualificationswill be designed and delivered in a way that isdirectly led by their needs and meets their skillspriorities. An employer-led, demand-drivensystem is essential if we are to increase thenumber of job opportunities for offenders. That is why we propose to increase the emphasison improving employability in education andskills for offenders, with employers leading thedesign of the curriculum and programmes onoffer.

26. Many employers are already directly involved at local and regional level with approximately1,500 prisoners released on temporary licence to undertake paid work in the community andsome 500 companies already providing paidwork for prisoners. The Offender Training andEmployment Programme, led by National Grid,has trained and employed over 200 offenders to date. The scheme is working with 15 prisonsand other major companies from five industrialsectors. It is on target to train and employ 1,000offenders by the end of 2007 38. In addition, asignificant number of prison industries areundertaking work for, and in partnership with,the private and voluntary sectors.


Key Points

We will develop new approaches to intensivework-focused support for offenders, buildingon our existing strategy and aiming to engageemployers in designing and deliveringprogrammes so that offenders gain skills andexperience to meet employers’ needs.

We will consider:

■ Building on the current framework ofsupport, with a Job Developer working aspart of the existing Employer Coalition towork with local business to identify jobsand the skills required for those jobs;

■ Piloting a new job placement schemeand ensure jobcentres focus on helpingoffenders into jobs rather than placingthem on benefit; helping them find workin their last weeks in prison, with work-focused interviews and help to search for jobs on the Internet; and

■ Whether we can develop strongerincentives structures.

We will then test one or some variation ofthese approaches through demonstrationprojects in major cities.

At the heart of the strategy will be newalliances with employers, targeting specificindustrial sectors with labour shortages andwork to develop mentoring and other supportto help offenders get work and keep it.

22

27. Work is already underway to engage employersin the design of programmes, to encourage themto consider ex-offenders as potential recruits,and to support individual offenders in improvingtheir skills. Examples are:

■ The Reducing Re-offending EmployerAlliance, launched in November 2005, aims toopen up a dialogue with businesses at all levelsabout how correctional services can work withthem on employability and training, and howwe can use their professional skills to help usimprove job chances for offenders. Bringingtogether employers in these alliances willimprove our understanding of the barriers toemploying ex-offenders;

■ The Prison Service Plus 2 programmewill help 48,000 prisoners by December 2006. It works one-to-one with offenders, and is aflexible programme that can help offendersovercome barriers to work while developingtheir skills to increase employability. It can alsobroker job opportunities on release.


Case Study

‘John’ – Gas Network Operative 39

‘John’, now aged 23, was serving his third prisonsentence when he applied and was selected forthe gas network operative (GNO) training led byNational Grid. He gained his NVQ GNO level 1qualification in July 2004 and on his release amonth later, started work in the gas industry.

John was a prolific offender and spent most of histeenage years in and out of trouble. He wasnearing the end of a three and half year sentencewhen he heard about the National Grid schemethat offered training, mentoring and aguaranteed job on release. After a rigorousselection process, John was accepted for thethirteen-week course, which, because it isapproved by the company offering employment,gives successful candidates the basic level entryinto the gas industry.

The course, funded by National Grid anddelivered by a gas industry registered trainer,included five weeks’ classroom-based training

and eight weeks at a work placement with one of National Grid’s contractors. This gave John the opportunity to put into practice skills learnt in the classroom.

John did not want to return to his home area somoved into rented accommodation in a differenttown. National Grid worked with the prisonresettlement team, to find a property that wasnear to where John was going to work andfunded the required deposit.

Moving to a new area and a new job was achallenge and the 24-hour 7-days-a-weekmentoring support National Grid provide helpedJohn through opening a bank account,understanding and paying council tax, andregistering with a doctor. With National Grid’ssupport, he took driving lessons and passed hisdriving test.

John said, “I’ve learnt a new trade and am stilllearning every day. I can see myself in this careerfor life. This chance has given me my life back.”

A Stronger Focus on Employment

28. Building on this work we need a strongprogramme of action to identify and addressbarriers to employment which particularly affectoffenders. This will link learning and skillsprogrammes to labour-market needs and, wherepossible, establish more direct pathways intojobs. Reducing unemployment in cities will becentral to the Government’s long-term aim of anational employment rate equivalent to 80 percent of the working-age population. TheNational Employment Panel (NEP) 40

recommended a more integrated approach toproviding job-search skills and other supportnecessary to increase employment fordisadvantaged residents, and contribute to widereconomic and social regeneration. Throughnegotiation of local area agreements, forexample, many city partnerships are looking toincrease the number of people moving into workfrom disadvantaged groups and areas.

29. We want to learn from and build on experience,for example through more effective ways ofunderstanding and meeting employers’ needs,simplifying targets and funding arrangementswherever possible, and by providing moreopportunity for local areas to decide localsolutions for local problems. Offenders and ex-offenders are among the most educationallydisadvantaged people and NOMS will need towork closely with other agencies, includingJobcentre Plus and the LSC, to ensure thatdevelopments are responsive to offenders’ needsand potential.

30. We are committed to exploring new approachesto intensive work-focused support for offendersso that they increasingly gain the skills thatemployers need to fill their vacancies. Onepromising approach would be to build on thecurrent framework of support by introducing aJob Developer working as part of the existingNEP Employer Coalitions. Working together with


Case Study

NHS Employability Scheme

This scheme gives disadvantaged groups,including offenders in the community, theopportunity to gain valuable work experiencewithin West Yorkshire Hospitals, in non-clinicalsupport roles, such as porters, cleaners, cateringand administration workers.

The scheme offers taster days and weeks,shadowing, voluntary work, work placements,‘buddying’ and mentoring, to see if individualsare suited to the work available. If the tasterperiod has been successful, when a job vacancybecomes available they will be put forward andgiven help and support in preparing their jobapplication form and for their interview. CriminalRecords Bureau and occupational health checkswill be carried out on everyone who is interestedin the scheme.

‘Daniel’ was sentenced in June 2005 and wasplaced on a Community Punishment and

Rehabilitation Order for 18 months, with arequirement to perform 70 hours of unpaid work.He has no formal qualifications.

Daniel asked whether he could be referred for theEmployability Scheme. He attended a jointmeeting with both his case manager and theEmployer Liaison Officer to discuss therequirements and opportunities. He was able to provide an employment reference, and hisapplication was forwarded. The case manageralso referred Daniel for advice on interviewtechniques and how best to disclose hisconvictions to an employer.

The case manager kept Daniel informed about theprogress of his application to the scheme, and, inturn, talked to the Employer Liaison Officer. In duecourse, Daniel was asked to complete anoccupational health questionnaire, and attendedan interview at the local hospital. It took aroundtwo months for final confirmation, but Daniel wasoffered a job at the local hospital as a porter.

24

offender managers and existing jobcentresupport, they would work with local business toidentify jobs and the skills they demand.Regional Skills Partnerships would help ensurethat action matched the economic, social,employment and skill needs of a region. This is a promising way forward, on which wewould welcome views.

31. We are also considering whether we can developalternative or supplementary approaches. For example, moving away from the idea ofGovernment prescribing how to strengthenwork-focused support to focus instead ondeveloping stronger incentives. One particularoption we will consider will be exploring thepotential for performance-based financialincentives in contracts. Such an approach will beconsidered within the context of theintroduction of an overall strategy forintroducing commissioning and contestabilitywithin NOMS. The forthcoming five year strategyfor reducing re-offending being developed bythe National Offender Management Service,offers an opportunity to consider how best wecan move forward, working in partnership togive offenders the skills they need. We will thentest one or some variation of both of theseapproaches with demonstration projects inmajor cities.

32. Employer Coalitions would:

■ Organise sector-based employer groups;

■ Advise on marketing and communicationstrategies to the local employers and employerorganisations;

■ Enhance the labour-market knowledge of theNational Offender Management Service andJobcentre Plus staff and advise onemployment-related activity with offenders;

■ Promote job opportunities for ex-offenders within their area; and

■ Provide feedback on the performance ofproviders in preparing ex-offenders for work.

33. The Jobcentre Plus employment and benefitsurgery service in prisons would be developed ina demonstration project area to allow advisers to place a greater emphasis on improving theemployability of an offender, rather than justclosing benefit claims. Advisers would identifythose prisoners with benefits issues that needaddressing, but the focus of the support theyprovide would shift from benefits to work, withmore support for job-search activity in the finalweeks of a prison sentence. This will includeattendance at a work-focused interview.

34. Jobcentre Plus support in these areas would,wherever practical, also include access to theJobcentre Plus job-search website. We will pilot a scheme to make controlled Internet accessavailable to risk-assessed prisoners approachingrelease, so that they can take advantage ofInternet job-search and other possible sources of information regarding job opportunities in thearea in which they will be resettled. JobcentrePlus will place these ‘job points’ in some prisonsto make vacancy searching easier for prisonersprior to release.

35. Critical to the promotion of the employment ofoffenders is recognition of the employer as a customer, and an understanding of the locallabour market and skills needs. As part of ourstrategy to engage employers, we are alreadytargeting specific sectors known to have labourshortages. Several prisons and probation areasare focusing training on the development ofskills required by these sectors.

36. Job Developers would provide a crucial linkbetween all those engaged in supportingoffenders, using their knowledge and expertiseto support Jobcentre Plus in identifying potentialemployees with the skills needed by employers.They may also choose to work with any localsocial enterprises which are known to train andprovide jobs for ex-offenders. And they wouldwork with the offender manager and with theEmployer Coalitions themselves to developtraining in specific skills that could begin inprison – for example, welding, carpentry, metalwork or fork-lift truck driving.


37. This training could continue post-release, andresult in a job with an employer or in skills thatwere transferable to any organisation within that sector. For example, a constructioncompany might work within the prison to teachbricklaying – both in the classroom and in apractical setting. This course would be employer-designed, and could be developed in partnershipwith a local training provider. Although theremight not be a guaranteed job placement at theend of the course, the individual would have amarketable skill that could significantly increasehis or her attractiveness to other employers andability to compete successfully for jobs.

38. Through regular contact, the Job Developer andoffender manager would support the individualand employer in continued training andsuccessful retention in the job. And they wouldwork with the offender manager to testalternative mentoring and support for thecontinued development of ex-offenders inemployment.

39. With a demonstration project on this model we would also consider piloting a new job-placement scheme, where individuals wouldbegin work in the week they were released. Thecosts and risks of employment for the individualcould be offset in one of three main ways. Theex-offender could:

■ Be employed directly in full or part-timeemployment;

■ Be taken on under a ‘job trial’ arrangement fortwo weeks; or

■ Be employed with training offset through theTrain to Gain programme, a flexibleprogramme of skills training, responsive toemployer and employee needs.

40. In cases where none of these options wassuccessful, offenders could be employed underthe subsidised employment option in the New Deal.

41. Subject to consultation, the Government wouldwelcome further ideas, supported by employers,on ways in which offenders could start workquickly after leaving prison.

42. The effectiveness of any package of intensivework-focused support will hinge crucially onensuring sufficient continuity of support foroffenders during their sentence. The NationalOffender Management Service aims to holdprisoners close to their homes whenever possible.Considerable emphasis is placed on encouragingprisoners to maintain family ties, and existingguidance requires prison governors to considerfamily contact issues before moving prisoners toanother prison. Maintaining family ties helps withthe transition from imprisonment to resettlementand is an important factor in reducing thelikelihood of re-offending. The intention is also toavoid moving prisoners if it disrupts theirparticipation in educational courses, trainingcourses or treatment programmes.

43. As another way of supporting this continuity, we will explore the scope of a ‘skills passport’ foroffenders that records skills and qualificationsalready held, and reflects any skills acquired orcredits gained towards a qualification. Once inemployment, this approach might continue to be built upon to secure a first full level 2qualification under Train to Gain. It will allow foran ‘assess-train-assess’ approach, where anemployee’s current skills are assessed in relation to a relevant level 2 qualification. Free training isthen provided to fill any gaps, and is followed bya final assessment.

44. As the nation’s largest employer, the publicsector also has an important part to play. TheGovernment encourages all central and localgovernment to find ways to support this agenda and investigate the real and perceived barriers tothe sustainable employment of offenders. Someexamples of local public-sector initiatives alreadyexist. For example, one element of London’sResettlement Strategy is action to developopportunities for the public sector to employmore ex-offenders. The LSC has been exploringopportunities for closer links with employers inhealth and care, local and national governmentand education. Building on this, the DfES andthe Home Office will review their own practice to ensure that they are able to give a lead withincentral government in offering fair opportunitiesfor ex-offenders to gain employment. They will also work closely with other governmentdepartments to support the development of policies to ensure that ex-offenders are


26

not unfairly discriminated against in theirrecruitment.

45. We will also look at what other services might be helpful to employers considering employingex-offenders. It is understandable that employersshould seek to avoid unnecessary risks,particularly when there may be other highlymotivated workers available. We shall considerwhat measures might reduce the risks toemployers. One approach might be to offer adirect advice facility if any difficulties occur onthe job, including an offer by Jobcentre Plus tohelp the individual find alternative employmentif things do not work out. We would welcomeviews on the nature of support employers needand want, and how it could best be delivered.

46. We also recognise that, for some offenders, self-employment may be the most practical way intothe labour market. It may also help to avoid thediscrimination that can be faced by offendersapplying for jobs. There are already initiativesunderway to help offenders and ex-offendersenter self-employment:

■ The Business in Prisons Initiative, for example,supported from the Small Business Service’sPhoenix Development Fund (PDF), which aimsto help offenders and ex-offenders develop the skills required to start their own businesseson release;

■ The PDF has also supported the developmentof a self-employment, enterprise andentrepreneurship education programme atNVQ levels 2 and 3 for offenders, which wouldbe fully transferable. Individuals would be ableto continue to follow the programme in theevent of them moving from one prison toanother; and

■ At Wandsworth Prison, the Learn2Earn projectis delivering much closer links with theJobcentre Plus New Deal for Self Employment.Ultimately, the offender produces a SelfEmployment Action Plan in conjunction withlocal business, who mentor and assess thosegraduating from Wandsworth’s businesscourses. We shall explore ways in which thisproject’s objectives can be promotedelsewhere, and how self-employment can bebetter integrated into the curriculum andprogrammes on offer across the estate. Self-employment should be presented as a realoption, in addition to other employmentprogrammes. There may be scope for otheragencies such as libraries to provide specifickinds of support to the new arrangements.

CONSULTATION QUESTIONS:

■ What are the best ways to engageemployers in opening up jobopportunities to offenders, and what arethe issues that arise?

■ What support would be most helpful toemployers considering recruitingoffenders, and how might it be provided?


B. A BETTER QUALITY AND INCREASINGLYEFFECTIVE LEARNING AND SKILLS SERVICE

47. This section outlines plans to reform theeducation and training of offenders. The newOffender Learning and Skills Service (OLASS) willbe planned and funded by the LSC, the nationalbody responsible for learning and skills post-16. The section also sets out forconsultation proposals to pilot an even moreintegrated approach – the ‘campus model’ –which, if successful, might be developed as thedelivery model after the first OLASS contractscome to an end in July 2009.

48. Alongside the development of NOMS, thesechanges will deliver a higher-quality service, yearon year, with better skills for offenders in prisonand in the community, leading to jobs. The newservice has already started in three developmentregions (the North East, North West and SouthWest). Building on this, the LSC will introduce thenew arrangements across the rest of Englandfrom 31 July 2006. Different arrangements will beput in place in Wales, as the remit of the LSC andDfES does not extend to Wales (see paragraphs87 – 89).

49. With education and training for all offendersbrought within the responsibility of the LSC, thisreform will drive significant improvements inquality and delivery, underpinned by:

■ Better Assessment and Planning: an early,intense focus on assessing individual learners’needs, providing advice and guidance (forexample on entitlement to free tuition when training towards a first full level 2qualification), and the development of anindividual learning plan, within the widersentence plan. LSC planning will ensure thattraining fits the needs of the labour marketwithin which offenders serve their sentence or, if in prison, to which they will be released.Training will also be tailored to the physicalenvironment in a particular prison and moreclosely related to the specific needs of a prisonpopulation – for example, in women’s orjuvenile prisons;

■ A wider curriculum choice: the Offender’sLearning Journey supports progression, forexample on transfer from prison to probationand into mainstream learning. It has clearquality requirements and a strong focus onlearning needs that will help more offendersinto suitable and sustained jobs. A juvenileversion of the Offender’s Learning Journeyacknowledges the specific needs of youngerlearners;

■ More accurate and up-to-date data: too much time is taken up at present in repeatedlyassessing an individual’s learning needs, with learning records often not effectivelypassed between prisons, or prison toprobation. Accurate learner data must bequickly available to NOMS officials, thoseinvolved in the management of juveniles’sentences, and all those involved in thedelivery of learning. Transfer of learner recordsis accordingly a key area for improvement.New arrangements, applying in the threeOLASS development regions from January and across the country during 2006, will ensure that a record of an individual’s skills,learning plan and achievements accompanieshim or her throughout the length of thesentence, and helps the transition into


Key Points

■ A new, integrated and higher qualitylearning and skills service in place fromAugust 2006 in each English region;

■ A strong focus on the skills to help moreoffenders into jobs;

■ Offenders being, for the first time, apriority group in the plans of the LSC and other bodies, such as the QualityImprovement Agency (which focuses on further education standards);

■ Electronic transfer of individual learningrecords, to resolve a long-standing failingin the service;

■ Inspection of all offender learning, todrive up quality;

■ Piloting of a new model for delivery – the‘Offender Learner Campus’ – to developnew centres of excellence and better linkswith mainstream education and training.

28

mainstream programmes in the community.We anticipate being able to provide veryquickly for exchange of data with the newNOMS offender management ICT system;

■ Mainstreamed delivery of offender learning:offender education has, to some extent, beenseen as a Cinderella service. We want to see a set of learning providers, operating withinthe framework of mainstream post-16 learning,offering offenders better access to a broadrange of mainstream provision. The LSC hasdesignated offender learners as a prioritygroup, enabling them to benefit from the Skills Strategy policy of targeting resources onthose most in need, in order to make thememployable. The LSC will produce guidance onintegrating offender learners into their existingprovision. Offenders can also benefit from theplanned overhaul of the National QualificationsFramework, to create a new Framework forAchievement by 2010. The new arrangementswill increase flexibility, and offer betteropportunities for learners to build credittowards qualifications. The Framework forAchievement will also allow properaccreditation of offender learningprogrammes outside the existingqualifications framework;

■ Regional Offender Learning PartnershipBoards: powerful alliances are forming at theregional level between the groups of keystakeholders coming together to oversee theeducation, training and employment strand ofthe regional reducing re-offending strategy. The combined power of the commissioningroles of the Regional Offender Managers(ROMs) and the LSC will play a critical role inthe planning and management of the newOLASS delivery arrangements. A newaccountabilities framework will support theseregional partnerships;

■ Progressive development of the offenderlearning and correctional services workforces:to be successful, learners need good teachers.As resources allow, the Government intends to place a new emphasis on the developmentof the offender education workforce. Thoseworking with offenders in educationprogrammes, vocational training, industrialworkshops, prison regime activities andoffending behaviour programmes needsupport to build in opportunities to gain skillsand qualifications. They also need to benefitfrom a regular inspection regime and nationalinitiatives. We expect an important part to beplayed by Lifelong Learning UK, the Centre for Excellence in Leadership, and Skills forJustice. The existing Success for All programmeis already having an impact on offenderlearning. Prison education services havehelped test teaching and learning resourcesdeveloped for key subject areas such asconstruction, and prison tutors are joining theircolleagues across the sector in the coachingprogrammes and subject networks associatedwith these resources;

■ Other prison and probation staff also have animportant role to play. The structural changesthat will flow from commissioning andcontestability will give prisons and probationworkforces a wider and more flexible range of skills. They will work side by side with theeducation workforce to encourage andsupport the learning programmes in whichoffenders are engaged;

■ Strengthened and refocused externalinspection arrangements: inspection of prisoneducation has had a powerful effect. In future,all offender education and training, in prisonsand community, will be inspected to the samestandards as other adult learning. To achievethis, the inspectorates will work in partnershipwith key organisations and agencies, at boththe national level and within an appropriategeographical area. Equally importantly, werecognise the urgent need to sustain theimprovement seen in the gradings for prisoninspections in recent years.


CONSULTATION ISSUE: Strengthening thepartnership to develop offender skills – a ‘campus’ approach

50. We have set out our plans to improve thelearning and skills service offered to offenders.These changes will achieve a great deal. But thedelivery of education to offenders will still takeplace largely through a set of separate and time-bound contracts with a minority of providerswho have chosen to work in the field. This isimportant in the short-term, to ensure wecontinue to provide a secure service; but for thelonger term it may limit the flexibility of thedelivery process. Contracts are expensive toremove and change and the mix of providersmay be more difficult to alter as the needs of thepopulation change.

51. We want to consider a much more radicalchange, by creating a new alliance of providers,whose contribution can develop as our evidenceabout what works improves. We want to developcentres of excellence in offender learning, whichshould, over time, produce a much moreeffective service. Accordingly, we aim to test thescope for a model based on the notion of servingthe needs of a ‘campus of offender learners’.


Case Study

DfES has funded Strode College and theUniversity of Plymouth to develop a specialised,accredited module for staff working withoffenders in custody or in the community.Offender-specific modules are available asoptions at all levels of teacher training, pre-service and in-service, at all levels from level 2support through to Masters degrees.

Supporting the good work that prison andprobation officers have already taken uponthemselves has great potential. It can enrichthe learning experiences of individualoffenders, and help to foster a culture oflearning that continues outside of theclassroom or workshop. Enhancements toProbation Service initial training are building onthe basic skills awareness training alreadydelivered. A groundbreaking adult-learnersupport module, accredited at level 2, iscurrently being delivered to 100 ProbationService officers and ten prison officers as part oftheir initial training. An accredited trainingmodule designed to raise awareness ofoffenders’ learning needs has been trialled withYorkshire Probation Area, with a 100 per centsuccess rate for the officers involved. A furtherpilot is scheduled to take place in the Midlands.

30

52. An offender learner ‘campus’ could be based ona criminal justice area, linking prisons andprobation services, or another relevant groupingof offenders within a region. The key features of such a model are set out in Figure 4. Theycould include:

■ An alliance between a range of trainingproviders, based on the needs of the offenderlearners on the campus; and publishing theoffer through a prospectus. The alliance couldinclude institutions from the further and highereducation sectors, as well as voluntary,community and employer-based providerscoming together under the direction of a Campus Director;

■ Creating new centres of excellence inunderstanding the needs of offenders anddeveloping the most effective methods ofdelivery, to increase the contributioneducation can make to reducing re-offendingin the context of other interventions foroffender management;

■ A strong focus on social inclusion, to overcomeoffenders’ barriers to employment, as well asemploying strategies to motivate and encourageparticipation and minimise ‘drop-out’;

■ A focus on jobs as a key way to reduce re-offending, by including employers andJobcentre Plus in the campus offer;

■ Involving staff from mainstream providersin delivering learning and skills to offenders.This would support offenders in maintainingrelationships with teachers and others,whether in prison or outside. This shouldincrease their motivation and encourage them to continue participating as they makecritical transitions in their sentence andresettlement;

■ Additional support for offenders in transitionbetween institutions, or between custody andcommunity to support their resettlement.

53. The campus could be delivered using theexisting planning and funding responsibilities of the further and higher education sectors,rather than procuring separate, and short-termsolutions through one-off exercises. The role ofthe Campus Director, in conjunction with NOMS,the LSC and the Higher Education FundingCouncil for England, would be to ensure that themost appropriate mix of provision was available.The campus model should enable more flexibilityin changing that mix, as the needs of offenders changed and as we got better at understandingthe most effective practice for delivery. Someproviders would be those located close to the


Figure 4 The Offender Learner Campus

Criminal Justice Area

Prisons & Probation Areas

Learning and Skills Council

Higher Education Funding Council for England Jobcentre Plus & Employers

ProvidersFurther Education SectorHigher Education SectorCharitable Organisations

Private SectorVoluntary and Community Sector

Employers

Campus

AcademicCentres ofExcellence

Centre forVocationalExcellence

Campus director‘Relationship Builder’

Offenders in Custody and in the

Community

Learning & Skills

Funding Jobs

Offenders

campus, while some might operate morevirtually to provide services outside theimmediate locality, if the needs of the populationdemanded it. A specific focus of the campuswould be to encourage the use of e-learning andother ICT opportunities for flexible and cost-effective delivery.

54. This new model could offer the opportunity todevelop the role of prisons whose main focuswas on a resettlement regime, driven byimproving the employability of prisoners. It could offer more opportunity for offenders tomaintain relationships with the same staff in

prison and on release. Stability in keyrelationships can be critical in supportingoffenders through transitions in their sentence,and back into a life free from crime. The campuswould be accessible by employers, and wewould encourage the development of corporatealliances; indeed, some learning could bedelivered by employers. The Campus Directorand providers would be responsible for buildingrelationships with employers to secure the mostsuccessful job outcomes for offenders.

55. This model depends on effective partnerships. All those engaged would need strong, sharedorganisational objectives within the overall aim


Illustration: How the Campus Might Work

Richard has just been given an 18-month sentence

for a drugs-related offence. He is 24, and, although

he had a promising career at school early on, he lost

interest when he was 16 and started work as a DJ,

leaving school with only two GCSEs.

He has been allocated a prison close to his local

community, and, as part of an initial needs

assessment, a drugs programme has been

identified as part of his sentence plan. His offender

manager, Chris, is responsible for his sentence plan

and making sure that the needs identified in it are

met in the correct sequence and that delivery is

monitored. The initial assessment also identifies

skills Richard needs for employment, and signs him

up to the new ‘contract’.

Richard’s sentence starts with attendance at an

offending behaviour programme, delivered in the

prison, and linked to improving his basic skills to

encourage him to think about gaining other skills

and qualifications. Following Richard’s successful

completion of the programme, Chris introduces

him to the potential learning opportunities offered

through the new learner campus in the local area.

The incentive for Richard is that, through his

behaviour, he can improve his chance of release

on temporary licence to continue his studies

externally, subject to a rigorous risk assessment.

The new campus offers high-quality programmes in

a wide range of vocational and academic subjects.

It is delivered through a partnership between a

college and university in the area, along with a

voluntary organisation, an e-learning provider

and a group of local employers, who offer work

experience and training as well as permanent jobs.

Through the campus prospectus, Richard decides

to work on his ICT skills by signing up to an ICT

competency qualification, the European Computer

Driving Licence, delivered in co-operation with the

local further education college, and supported by

e-learning. Louise is his new tutor from the college

and, working with Chris, will support Richard in his

studies, particularly in making the transition from

activities in the prison to those in the community.

As planned, Richard’s new ambitions to boost his

employability result in him achieving the ICT

qualification. Having demonstrated his

commitment, he is released on temporary licence

and Louise introduces him to the college premises.

During the review of his individual learning plan,

Richard realises that he has potential to progress

further and signs up to a new course in ICT at level

3. At the same time, Louise arranges a work

placement with a local employer.

Through the continued support available, and his

commitment to leading a drug-free life by

attending counselling, Richard sees a range of new

opportunities opening up for him when he is

released into the supervision of Chris. He is now on

course to achieve his level 3 qualification; Louise is

getting him information on access to higher

education courses; and Richard is considering

a new career in ICT in a different locality, as part of

his journey away from his old lifestyle.

32

of reducing re-offending. It could work well with the proposed employability contract foroffenders, alongside reforms in the prison andprobation services through NOMS, but wouldneed to be tested rigorously, perhaps as part of a regional pilot.


■ What are the key considerations inconstructing a campus model, and itslinks to more effective outcomes for skillsand employment alongside a newcontract model?

■ How can we build this into the design ofnew services implied by the HomeSecretary’s speech on penal reform? 41

■ Building on the foundations of the newOLASS regime, how can we most rapidlyand effectively improve quality andeffectiveness of the offender learnerservice, and strengthen the offenderlearning and correctional servicesworkforces?

C. GREATER COHERENCE ACROSS THE SYSTEM

56. The development of NOMS is a significantopportunity to improve skills and employmentoutcomes for offenders. A clear focus onsentence management and reduced re-offending, and the NOMS partnership with theLSC, will foster prison regimes that balance theneed for offenders to be purposefully occupiedwith the imperative to focus learning and skillsresources on skills leading to better chances ofemployment. For offenders in the community,the new arrangements, coupled with the LSC’sdesignation of offenders as a new priority, willengage mainstream post-16 education providerswith their needs.


Key Points

■ Encouraging the full use of flexibility insentencing powers to promote skills andemployment within and alongside prisonand community sentences;

■ A new emphasis on skills and jobs, as thereduction of re-offending is placed at theheart of prison and probation services;

■ Ensuring a single professional hasresponsibility for each offenderthroughout his or her sentence,managing education and employmentprovision as part of a wider sentence plan;

■ Exploring ways to help more offendersimprove their skills and get jobs throughbetter design of the prison day andbetter use of prison facilities, with skillstraining built into other activities such as workshops;

■ In probation services, using unpaid workin the community as an opportunity to improve skills for paid work;

■ Exploiting opportunities to use the fullrange of programmes, such as thosetackling offending behaviour, to developjob and life skills;

■ Where possible, ensuring that offendershave controlled access to technology if this will improve their skills and findthem work.

57. The NOMS reforms will ensure each offender has a single person – the offender manager – totake responsibility for them throughout theirsentence, in custody or the community. Theoffender manager will assess the needs of theoffender, and the need to protect the individualand the public by reducing the risk of re-offending. The job of the offender manager is to address these issues in individual sentenceplans, working with providers of a range ofinterventions. At a regional level, the RegionalOffender Managers (ROMs) are building alliancesaround the main areas of need, for example withhousing providers, with drug action teams, andwith learning and skills councils. And at thenational level, the National Reducing Re-offending Delivery Plan sets out theGovernment’s approach to cutting re-offendingthrough greater strategic direction and joined-up working.

58. Against that background, this section sets outproposals for a stronger emphasis, within thecorrectional services, on support for positiveskills and employment outcomes. As we driveforward reform of offender management, weshall actively seek opportunities for education,training and job preparation to be delivered aspart of, or alongside, the sentence.

59. As regards the use of formal sentencing powers,these might include:

■ Encouraging sentencers to take advantage of opportunities within the Criminal JusticeAct (2003) to promote education andemployment as key objectives of custodial andcommunity penalties. This would build on theProbation Service guidance on the use ofeducation, training and employmentconditions as an ‘Activity Requirement’ underthe Act. Criminal Justice agencies in a regionwould need to be closely involved indeveloping guidance. It would, of course, need to be accompanied by a prospectus foroffender learners and managers that set outthe opportunities for education and training,so that sentencers and others could be assuredthat suitable programmes were available;

■ Exploring ways in which Home DetentionCurfew might be used to support training and employment;

■ Ensuring that arrangements for release ontemporary licence support, as far as possible,opportunities for training and employment,including mainstream education provision.This is a development we would expect toexplore through the piloting of the campusmodel outlined above.

60. As regards the wider range of prison orprobation operations, the Regional OffenderManager’s new commissioning role offersopportunities to tailor delivery of learning to thesituation of the offender, to the available facilitiesand to employment opportunities. We are hereseeking views on options for this strategy, whichcould include:

■ Using the physical estate better to supportlearning. The Home Office is currentlyreviewing the prison estate with a focus onmaintaining links with the community.Possibilities could include using remand wingsfor assessment and initial support, and creatingtraining prisons leading on vocationalspecialisms. This could assist with the targetingof limited resources to improve facilities invocational areas. We will also seek to supportmore partnerships between prisons andcommercial organisations, to equip workshopswith industry standard facilities. Thepartnership between HMYOI Aylesbury andToyota Motor Company (below) is an exampleof what is possible.

■ Greater influence of learning and skillspractitioners on other aspects of regimes,ensuring that staff are increasingly committedto the skills and employment agenda, and thecontribution it can make to reduced re-offending. We will ensure, as far as ispracticable, that the learning andemployability needs of an offender areexplicitly part of the allocation process thatdetermines where an offender will serve his orher prison sentence. In the community, weenvisage using the Criminal Justice Act andoffender managers to ensure that appropriate


learning is delivered both within and alongsidethe sentence. We will also look at further waysin which work in prison and unpaid work in thecommunity can result in learning outcomesincluding qualifications, and lead to real jobs.An example is the Teesside ‘CommunityPayback’ scheme in Hartlepool, whereoffenders completing the programme havereceived guaranteed job interviews with thelocal authority.

■ Flexible and inventive ways of embeddinglearning and skills into other aspects of workwith offenders.

– In prisons, all staff, and especially the Headof Learning and Skills, can be activelyencouraged to seek out ways for learning,and preparation for work to be fitted intothe prison day. Examples of this could (andin some prisons already do) include:

● Flexibility about the delivery ofeducation, for example providingeducation on the wing, and providingshort education sessions in the workplaceduring workshops;

● Involving education in other activities,for example building numeracy skills inthe kitchen or in the gym;

● Developing workplace skills by engagingwith others and taking on responsibility,including involvement in existing prisonschemes, such as Listeners, a peer supportscheme, and Toe-by-Toe, a literacy scheme;

● Increasing physical provision, by openingup more rooms, or by greater utilisation ofexisting accommodation and in-celllearning.

– Within probation, possibilities could include:

● Using literacy, numeracy andcommunication skills as part of otherwork, for example in unpaid workprojects, finance and debt counselling,and behavioural programmes;

34 Chapter 4: The Government’s Vision for Change – Trained for Employment, Skilled for Life

Case Study

HMYOI Aylesbury/Toyota Motor Company.

HMYOI Aylesbury has had great success in

establishing a partnership between the prison

and Toyota, the car manufacturer.

Previously at Aylesbury, learners in motor vehicle

engineering worked on old cars and trained in

poor facilities, and few of them went into related

work after leaving prison. The head of the motor-

vehicle training section helped the prison to

secure substantial funding from Toyota to

convert the existing workshop facilities into

a modern, fully equipped training garage. New

tools, testing equipment, cars and training

materials provided by Toyota allowed the staff

to develop a training programme that matched

the technician training programme delivered by

Toyota for its own staff. Toyota’s own modern-

apprenticeship-training resource material

includes tutor notes, videos and learning support

material that covers every aspect of the

qualification requirements. Most of the learners

needed help with numeracy, and about half with

literacy and to develop better social skills.

Instructors receive a two-week skills annual

updating course by the manufacturer. A

representative from Toyota visits the prison every

two or three months to review the course and

learners’ portfolios of evidence. The prison also

receives an annual sponsorship of £30,000 from

Toyota to maintain the facilities and resources.

Staff organise car dealership open days to help

offenders develop job-search skills. A high

proportion of learners on these regimes achieve

early parole and enhanced privileges for good

behaviour. Job prospects in the industry are

good and many learners go straight into paid

apprenticeships with Toyota and other

dealerships. Eighteen learners have been released

directly from HMYOI Aylesbury, of whom ten

have entered employment. 42

● Using a buddy when an offender haspoor reading and writing skills – thisalready happens in the behaviourprogrammes, and in some mentoringschemes;

● Encouraging staff to role-model positivebehaviour, to help offenders improve life skills.

■ Use of Information and CommunicationTechnology (ICT): ICT is a potentially powerfultool for distance learning in secureenvironments, and can be very motivating.It is increasingly important to underpin thelarger numbers of offenders studying incustody for Open University qualifications.Prisons have been cautious about opening up access to e-learning facilities, but theGovernment is keen to make more progress inthis area. The LSC will work with Learndirect toensure that, where appropriate, offenders haveaccess to the same mainstream opportunitiesas other learners. Building on a pilot of secureweb access for e-learning at Leyhill prison, thePrison Service will run a new project to identifyhow best to provide secure web access toprisoners in a way that balances usability withsecurity and the risk of misuse.

■ Consideration of ways in which the prison daycan provide better access to education,subject to security, healthcare and populationconsiderations. The day-to-day running ofprisons should support individuals involved ineducation and encourage others to becomeinvolved, by ensuring that time spent onlearning, or other preparation for employment,does not come at the cost of other activities.This means that all activities should beavailable to those prisoners who are engagedin education, in order to ensure that prisonersdo not miss out by taking part. In addition,prison pay regimes should ensure that thereare no barriers to involvement and prisonsshould look at ways of rewarding prisoners for taking part in activities that prepare themfor employment.

■ Ensure that activities offered by correctionalservices are, as far as possible, relevant toemployment, and provide opportunities toachieve qualifications. In prison, this shouldmean that, wherever practicable, workshopactivities are selected for their developmentand training prospects, and their suitability aspreparation for working life. This is not to saythat work that is profitable or useful for theinstitution cannot be done, but it should bedevelopmental for the worker. This is alreadyunderway in some prisons: for example, over80 prison kitchens both supply the prisons andoffer NVQs in catering skills to make offendersmore employable on release. Similarly, unpaidwork in the community, while fulfilling theobligation to punish the offender and makesome reparation to society, should develop the skills of offenders and prepare them tocontribute more to society. For instance, thereare many good examples where the projectsinclude elements of work experience, whichcan lead to employment, or at least aninterview or consideration for employment.This would also serve as an incentive tocomplete the order.

■ Development of workplace skills. Employerssay that one of the most important skills is theability to perform properly in the workplace:arriving on time, getting along with colleagues,working as part of a team, acting oninstructions, and accepting criticism. Someprisons are able to offer work that is useful,provides industry-focused training, anddevelops workplace skills. Offending-behaviourprogrammes available both in prison and in thecommunity can help to develop these life skills.But life in prison may not naturally foster theseskills, leaving individuals with little sense ofresponsibility for their day-to-day behaviourand actions. We are seeking views on how theworking day in prison might develop generalworkplace skills. For example, a greater focuson teamwork and on delivering a product to a deadline, and ways in which prisoners candevelop skills that are transferable to theworkplace. There may also be scope for makingthe working day in prisons and on communitysentences more like mainstream working life.


36


■ What sentencing measures couldmotivate more offenders to engage ineducation and training? Is there scope forincentives such as earlier release for thosethat make positive steps towardsimproving their skills, finding a job orsetting up a business?

■ How might skills and employmentbecome more mainstreamed into prisonlife, making the best use of opportunitiesfor offenders to develop relevant, up todate, marketable skills to supportprogression to employment?

■ Similarly in the community, are thereopportunities to use unpaid work andother community-sentence requirementsmore productively to reduce repeatoffending?

■ How might Regional Offender Managersbest use their commissioning role todrive this agenda forward?

D. MOTIVATING AND ENGAGING OFFENDERS –INCLUDING A NEW ‘CONTRACT’ FOROFFENDERS

61. Offender management reforms and a clearer andmore flexible sentencing structure, combinedwith a new focus on skills and employment, offeran important opportunity to motivate moreoffenders to take positive steps to improve theiremployability, and to increase their chances ofliving crime-free. There is an opportunity tocombine a range of incentives and otherinfluencing factors (for example, sentencingrequirements) with a high quality, work-focusedprogramme of options intended to offerpathways into employment, with skills training.

62. We aim to test the scope for building a newemployability contract for offenders. This new‘rights and responsibilities’ package will offeroffenders a menu of options for training andskills support leading to a specific employmentgoal. In return, offenders will be expected toengage positively with the offer and meet clearperformance criteria. This package could be putto the offender as part of the sentence plan.


Key Points

■ We will test a new ‘employabilitycontract’ to motivate offenders;

■ As well as being expected to find work,offenders will be helped to do so with a range of training and employmentopportunities;

■ Incentives could include guaranteed jobinterviews, and earned privileges incustody;

■ Their responsibilities, where appropriate,could be set out in sentence plans;

■ We will also look at the particular issuesfacing minorities within the criminaljustice system (women, disabled, ethnicminority, juvenile or young-adultoffenders) and how these might befactored into the ‘contract’.

Alternatively, according to an individual’scircumstances, it might be offered later in thesentence, when other issues had been tackled,such as drug problems or children and familyconcerns. For offenders in the community, itcould form part of the Community Order.Offenders would have an opportunity tocomment on their needs, and would understandthat their Community Order was a form ofcontract with which they would need to comply,and which would offer a chance to improve skillsand employability.

63. Figure 5 below sets out what such a contract foroffenders might look like. The Government iskeen to invite views on how best to make suchan approach work, but in essence:

■ Offender managers would make an initialassessment of the range of an individual’sneeds, priorities, and barriers to learning.Wherever possible, this would be conductedbefore sentencing, so that the outline sentenceplan could be put before the court, discussedwith the offender, and then reflected, whereappropriate, in conditions attached to thesentence. This is usually done as part of thepre-sentence report. Where an offender had asentence plan that did not require custody andallowed access to working-age benefits, theoffender manager would consider the impacton continued entitlement to benefit. Thiswould require closer working and exchange of information with Jobcentre Plus sites.


Figure 5 The Contract Model

Offender Manager responsible for plan, monitoring, interventions

Early assessment

EMPLOYERS

Gateway Options

Workplace skills training

Education/training

Regular reassessmentto identify whenindividuals may benefit

Paid work

Work experience

Voluntarywork

IAG

Literacy, numeracy

Intensive assessment

38

■ Offender managers would select individualswho appeared likely to benefit from anintensive programme focused on employability.

■ Individuals would have access to JobcentrePlus employment and benefit surgeries inprison, where they would receive advice andguidance. Where individuals wished to claimJobseeker’s Allowance, they would have accessto the Freshstart process, giving them theopportunity of a new jobseeker’s interview onrelease from custody. Other offenders in thecommunity might be referred straight toJobcentre Plus. Those with other needs, suchas a continuing addiction problem, or whowould be homeless on release, would also be referred on to the appropriate agency – but with the offender manager taking a co-ordinating role.

■ Where employability was identified as asignificant issue, and early attention to it wasappropriate, the individual could be referred to the ‘Gateway’, an intensive period of advice,attitudinal and behavioural skills training, andperhaps some specific learning to addressliteracy, language and numeracy needs. Weshall consider how such activity fits with therequirements of entitlement to working agebenefits. Although we would normally expectengagement with the ‘contract’ programme to be encouraged mainly by incentives toindividuals, it may be appropriate, in somecases, for elements of the ‘Gateway’programme to be specified by the court as part of the requirement of an order.

■ During the Gateway period, employmentadvice would be offered to help identify arealistic employment goal, if it was not clearalready, and a learning and employment planagreed, aimed at the needs of the labourmarket into which the offender was to be released.

■ From the Gateway process, the aim would beto move individuals on to one of a range ofoptions, leading to the employment goal.These could include:

– Paid employment, including tailored skillstraining on and off the job;

– Work experience with skills training (with anemployer or possibly in an intermediatelabour market);

– Voluntary work with skills training;– Full time education or training to a first full

level 2 qualification.

■ For those offenders receiving working-agebenefits, participation in an employment-related course would be approved by aJobcentre Plus adviser prior to the start.Similarly, participation in full-time training andeducation would need to be approved byJobcentre Plus, with, in some cases, a trainingallowance agreed.

64. Where an individual was reasonably job ready,they would not need to be directed towards anoption such as training or work experience, but,sentence permitting, could be diverted towardsjob-search. Equally, an individual might be a longway from job readiness, perhaps because otherpressing issues needed to be addressed first. Insuch cases, an offender manager would want todeploy other interventions, perhaps reservingaction on skills and employability for later in the sentence.

65. For those in prison, the incentives forparticipation should be flexible and focused on individuals’ own motivations. They couldinclude the opportunity to be housed on anenhanced wing or an area specifically forprisoners on this scheme, or more time out ofcell. The privileges could be linked to theIncentive and Earned Privileges schemes alreadyoperating in prisons, which are largely driven by prisoners’ participation in their sentenceplans. These privileges might be focused oneducation or employment (for example, work on interview techniques or writing a CV) or moretangible rewards (such as access to more highlypaid work or additional visiting hours). There are already examples of this type of rewardsystem for educational achievement in someprisons, for example prisoners gaining a financialbonus for achieving a qualification. For those in


the community, the package could offer workexperience or support in gaining employment orqualifications, in exchange for keeping to theterms of the community sentence and regularattendance. Other incentives might includeguaranteed interviews with employers, andsupport and advice to help the offender pursuethe job goal. In common with provision to other jobseekers, it may also be possible to offer training allowances for participation on programmes.

66. On the ‘responsibilities’ side, if an individual were assessed with an employability need, theirsentence plan might include requirements suchas compulsory participation in the Gatewayprocess. We would generally expect participationin options beyond the Gateway to be byagreement, not least because individuals wouldbe less attractive to an employer filling a vacancyif they were not there by choice. We will,however, consider how far some options, forexample to undertake voluntary work, might beunderpinned by the possibility of sanctions fornon-attendance or poor behaviour. In prison,penalties for not meeting the terms of thesentence plan could include loss of privileges,such as lower paid work or extended visitinghours. In the community, the aim would be, sofar as possible, to encourage engagementthrough positive motivation and incentives; butfailure to meet requirements laid down by acourt in a community sentence, or set out inconditions of a licence, may, of course, lead to an offender being sent to prison.

67. Naturally, we must be sure that privilegesprovided under this scheme do not giveoffenders benefits greater than could beaccessed by all in the community.

68. Where an individual offender did not enter theemployability contract scheme early in theirsentence, periodic reassessment would offer theopportunity to engage later, when they weremore likely to benefit. In a community setting,later participation would most likely be on avoluntary basis, since the requirements of a

community order, or Custody Plus order, wouldhave been set earlier. Participation might,however, be viewed favourably as indicating a willingness to reform.

69. Key factors in the success of such an approachwould be the offer of real job opportunities byemployers, and the extent to which thecorrectional services were able to organisearound the support of individuals’ employabilityaims. This paper has already outlined proposalsto do more in both these areas. As part of theconsultation on the overall strategy, we intend toconsider the systems and structures necessary toengage employers, both on a geographical andemployment-sector basis.

70. The contract proposal focuses firmly onemployability. This is because evidence suggeststhat employment is a key factor in reducing re-offending. Accordingly, for many offenders in the community, and for those in custodylooking ahead to resettlement, action to improvethe chances of securing and thriving inemployment will be important. But otheroffenders will be far from job ready. This may be because they lack skills or qualifications,because other factors such as health or familyconcerns loom larger than work, or because their attitude may be extremely disengagedfrom the concerns of the workplace, or fromlearning. This does not make a focus on skillsand employment outcomes any less important; it does, however, point to a need for flexibility inengaging with individuals who may have veryvaried needs.

71. In the new learning and skills service, forexample, it is right to expect all learnersto aim for qualification outcomes. But it is alsonecessary to recognise that some individualsstart a long way back in terms of motivation andreadiness to learn. The service, accordingly,needs to find ways of engaging and motivatingreluctant learners. Activities such as FamilyLearning courses can act as a ‘hook’ to getreluctant learners involved in education, and the‘contract’ could be the means of engaging those


40

with the furthest to travel. The incentive for theoffender in delivering their part of the contract isthe opportunity to maintain and enhance linkswith their children, and contribute to theirlearning and development. Anecdotal evidencesuggests that very reluctant learners with strongnegative attitudes towards classroom-basedlearning can become enthusiastic participantswhen they recognise the benefit to theirchildren. Other activities, for example music,drama and the arts, can also be a powerfulmeans of engaging disaffected individuals with learning, bolstering self-esteem andbroadening horizons.

72. We appreciate that the contract model will notbe the right approach for everyone. We alsoappreciate that, for those offenders who couldbenefit, it would not be appropriate at somepoints in their sentence. The assessment musttherefore take into account conflicting prioritieswhere they occur, but retain the potential forlater engagement when the time is right.

73. We also need flexible approaches when lookingat the barriers to participation for particulargroups of offenders. We know that specificgroups of offenders – for example, women,disabled, ethnic minority, juvenile and youngadult offenders – may feel unwilling or unable to participate in learning or preparation for work at times. The reasons for this may includeunhappy previous experiences of education or employment; problems with access, due to a learning difficulty or disability; issues with a traditional classroom-style delivery; orcompeting personal priorities. Barriers may alsoinclude maturity and behavioural issues, whichmay need to be partially overcome in the firstinstance, and tackled in more depth as part of the package of learning and skills during the Gateway.

74. We welcome views on how to overcome barriersto successful engagement in learning andemployment for particular groups, including:

■ Women: female offenders account for aroundsix per cent of the prisoner population. 43

Specific characteristics include the fact thatwomen achieve slightly better results inliteracy and numeracy screening; 44 are morelikely to have no qualifications (about 70 percent as opposed to 50 per cent of men) or tobe unemployed at the time of conviction; aremore affected by substance abuse and ill-health; 45 and are more often the primary carerfor children. We need to ensure that the higherprobability that female offenders will befocused on family responsibilities does notresult in their exclusion from qualification andwork-focused interventions.

■ Older offenders (this will include thosereaching retirement age on release): over 4,500offenders aged over 50 were supervised by theProbation Service in 2003. The number sent toprison for this age group was just over 3,300 46

in the same year. Greater maturity is the mosteffective factor in reducing re-offending 47 andthere is some evidence that offenders over 26are more likely to respond to employment-focused interventions. However, in terms ofemployer engagement, offenders past thetraditional ‘apprentice’ age may encounteradditional difficulties, due to prevailingemployer attitudes to recruiting older workers.

■ Black and minority ethnic (BME) offenders:BME offenders are over-represented in thecriminal justice system. In 2003, 25 per cent ofthe prison population was from a minorityethnic group. 48 More specifically, black andAsian prisoners are more likely to attendeducation and training in prisons than whiteprisoners. 49 But with unemployment aroundtwice as likely in black and ethnic minoritycommunities, 50 BME offenders may faceadditional hurdles in obtaining and retainingemployment. The proposals in this documentto improve the qualifications, skills andultimately employment of all offenders may,accordingly, be of particular importance tominority groups.


■ Disabled offenders: Of sentenced prisoners, 46 per cent of males aged 18-49 have alongstanding illness or disability, 51 around 70per cent of both males and females suffer twoor more mental heath disorders, 52 and justover ten per cent of one sample of thoseleaving prison applied for Incapacity Benefitimmediately on release. A focus onemployment as a means of reducing re-offending may be irrelevant to some offenderswith disabilities – although, of course, not all.We welcome views on devising a targetingstrategy to take this into account whendesigning interventions for those who may notrealistically gain employment.

■ Young Adult Offenders (YAOs) (ages 18-20):After juveniles, YAOs have the highest levels ofre-offending. Compared to offenders generally,YAOs have higher incidences of poor basicskills, education and training needs, mentalhealth problems, and unemployment bothpre- and post-release. For example, over 60 percent were unemployed on arrest. 53 They leadthe most chaotic lifestyles, with many nothaving the coping skills that older adults have acquired.


■ How might the contract proposal be bestused to support better outcomes in termsof skills and employment? What are theissues arising from this?

■ Would there be a case for going furtherthan the process described above, interms of requirements and incentives? If so, what other approaches mightstrengthen the contract?

■ What other measures might beconsidered in order to engage andmotivate more offenders in positiveaction to improve their employability andreadiness for resettlement and avoidanceof offending? (We would especiallywelcome specific and separate commenton issues relating to particular groups ofoffenders; for example, young adults,women, disabled and offenders fromethnic minority groups.)


42

75. This section highlights issues that apply only to16 and 17-year olds. However, it is essential thatthese are considered as part of the document asa whole, as the wider issues raised elsewhereapply to all offenders.

76. The youth justice system is overseen by theYouth Justice Board (YJB), which has a statutoryaim to prevent children and young peopleoffending. The structure is closely aligned tostatutory children’s services, in particulareducation, through the multi-agency structure ofYots, and covers young offenders between tenand 17-years old.

77. The vast majority of young offenders are dealtwith using community interventions, asillustrated in Figure 6.

Chapter 5: Youth Justice: 16 and 17-Year Old Offenders

Youth Justice: 16 and 17-YearOld Offenders

Chapter 5

Key Points

■ Youth Offending Teams (Yots) are playinga key part in ‘Change for Children’reforms, by working effectively inpartnership with other services, throughChildren’s Trusts’ arrangements toimprove outcomes for children;

■ Ensuring agencies work better togetherto find ways to draw young offendersback into training or work;

■ A new curriculum, developed in line with 14-19 reforms, with a work focusdesigned to motivate disaffected young people;

■ A review of the LSC funding system, toexpand the range of opportunities onoffer, particularly those delivered throughthe voluntary sector;

■ More access to programmes that helpensure that offenders are ready toundertake a job on release, with a review of procedures for release on licence;

■ Action to improve education foroffenders below working age, withconsultation on further proposals during 2006.

43

Young offender characteristics and educationalattainment

Figure 7: Young offender characteristics andeducation attainment 55

78. Figure 7 illustrates that, even at this young age,the cohort in the youth justice system facesmultiple barriers to participating in a life free of crime.

79. Despite these barriers, there is good evidencethat the majority of young offenders recognisethat qualifications and skills are key to theirleading useful and crime-free lives, and that a jobwill help them to break the cycle. 56

80. Education and training are actively promoted,with an employment goal in mind. But for themajority of young offenders there is a significantdistance to travel towards employability, owingto a range of factors including levels of maturity,behavioural issues and education andqualification deficits.

Education in custody

81. The YJB has been able to raise the quality andquantity of learning and skills for young people.Since 2002, the annual spend on education injuvenile YOIs has quadrupled. 57

82. The implementation, in 2002, of the YJB’sNational Specification for Learning and Skillsplaced new requirements on the Prison Serviceto deliver a more individual, full-time offer. Thesereforms have been consolidated into the newJuvenile Offender’s Learning Journey. Elementsexclusive to young offenders include:

■ A more individualised offer, supported byspecial needs and literacy and numeracy co-ordinators where appropriate; and

■ Post-release support provided by YOTsupervising officers and Connexions personaladvisers.

Figure 6 Young Offender Sentences

Community intervention

Custodial sentence

96 per cent

4 per cent

Average length of stay in custody is four months

54

Figure 7a Young offender characteristics

Live with both parents

Rated as underachieving at school

Regularly truanting

Excluded from school on entry into the youth justice system, or previously

Have special educational needs

Of those over school leaving age who don’t have the skills for employment (five good GCSEs or equivalent)

Have numeracy scores ten years below their chronological age

Have literacy and numeracy scores six years or more below their chronological age

Figure 7b Educational factors

0 20 40 60 80

0 20 40 60 80 100

Per cent

Per cent

55


44

Education in the community

83. A significant challenge remains to re-engageincreasing numbers of young offenders in thecommunity. Currently 75 per cent of youngoffenders are in full-time education, training oremployment by the end of their sentences, upfrom 64 per cent in 2002 and against a YOTtarget of 90 per cent. However, this drops below57 per cent for those leaving custody. Ways toincrease the engagement of reluctant offenderlearners are, therefore, particularly important. 58

Looking forward

84. There are a number of challenges in deliveringlearning and skills to offenders. For example,competing regime demands in custody,inflexible start dates that may not coincide with a learner’s readiness to enrol on courses in thecommunity, and high staff turnover and theinability to attract and retain good teachersgenerally. But there are important developmentsfrom which they can benefit:

■ 14-19 curriculum reforms: Work is underwayto develop a new curriculum with a choice oflearning routes. These will have a greatervocational emphasis to increase theengagement of the least academically inclinedand prepare them better for employment. Thenew specialised Diplomas will be at the heartof this. Employers will lead in designing theDiplomas, which will offer different ways oflearning and allow young people to progresson to higher education and employment.The first five Diplomas will be available fromSeptember 2008. Another key priority is thateducation should put a greater focus on thebasics needed for life and work. Through theQualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA),we are developing a framework of personal,employability, thinking and learning skills,which can be embedded in the curriculum.

■ Contribution of the voluntary and communitysector (VCS): The campus model, describedearlier, and the LSC Agenda for Changeproposals, which will overhaul the fundingsystem, should provide greater opportunitiesfor the VCS to compete for and sustain deliveryof services for young offenders.

■ The changing landscape of children’s services: The Change for Children reforms will introducemajor changes to the structure of children’sservices. The proposed development of a newyouth support service will bring togetherrelevant agencies dealing with troubled youngpeople with complex needs. Yots will play a keypart in these reforms. Other relevant proposalsset out in the Youth Matters consultationdocument include effective information, adviceand guidance, and the use of Opportunity Cardsto encourage participation in satisfying andrewarding activities. In the 2005 Budget, theChancellor announced resources to fundpersonally negotiated agreements for 16 and17-year olds not in employment, education ortraining. Peer Mentoring can be a particularlypowerful tool in motivating young people, andthe case study sets out an example of asuccessful approach.

85. Other initiatives that might have a positiveimpact on the behaviours and outcomes foryounger offenders include:

■ Reviewing the Juvenile Offender’s LearningJourney in line with the 14-19 curriculumdevelopments, to improve work readiness. This should take more account of what can bedelivered within custody, with appropriatefocus on progression;

■ Action to ensure that, under the new deliveryarrangements for the Connexions Service, theparticular needs of this socially excluded groupof learners are adequately recognised bytreating them as a priority group whether in a custodial or community setting;

Chapter 5: Youth Justice: 16 and 17-Year Old Offenders


■ Development of the PLUS strategy to provide anemphasis on embedding literacy and numeracyskills into vocational programmes;

■ Wider use of community-supervisionprogrammes such as the Intensive Supervisionand Surveillance Programme, where evaluationproves that higher levels of engagement ineducation, training and employment areachieved during a six-month intervention;

■ A new targets regime for the 14-19 year oldoffenders in custody and the community, withperformance indicators to support anapproach based on progression and ‘distancetravelled’;

■ Reviewing YOI procedures for release onlicence, with a view to maximising work and training placements for young people in custody;

■ Greater access to Entry to Employmentprogrammes and apprenticeships.

86. In the context of the proposals in this paper, theGovernment seeks views on the best way ofimproving engagement of younger offenders,and supporting a step change in learning andskills, and job outcomes for them.


■ How can we best ensure that any newlearning offer, developed in line with 14-19 reforms, increases motivation andengagement?

■ What more needs to be done for youngadults to prevent loss of momentumwhen they move to adult prisons?

■ What changes to the sentencingstructure and supervision arrangementsfor juvenile offenders might improvetheir chances of achieving the skills and aptitudes for employment?

46

The Welsh Assembly Government

87. The Welsh Assembly Governmentacknowledges that reducing re-offendingthrough skills and employment is one of themost effective means of combating crime. It also has a significant contribution to maketo the learning and employment agenda inWales. The Welsh Assembly Government isworking in partnership with the NationalOffender Management Service in Wales andother key partners to integrate learning andskills across policies and programmes, tosupport offenders in achieving sustainableemployment prospects.

88. The Assembly Government’s Basic SkillsStrategy – Words Talk, Numbers Count –identifies offenders and ex-offenders as apriority group and sets out an approachbased on co-ordinated multi-agency working.

The Basic Skills Agency, as the key partner in delivering the Strategy, is establishing a National Support Project to provideadditional support. The Welsh AssemblyGovernment will continue to work with UKgovernment departments, especially theDepartment for Work and Pensions, andJobcentre Plus Wales, to support the range ofinitiatives to raise levels of employment andeconomic activity amongst offenders.Jobcentre Plus Wales is already involved withthe Basic Skills Agency working toward thisend.

89. The Welsh Assembly Government will liaisewith the Department for Education and Skillson the offender learning consultation, andwill review how these findings may feed intothe Assembly’s own strategies for learning,skills and employment in Wales.


Printed in the UK by The Stationery Office Limited

on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office

ID 184277 12/05

1 http://www.noms.homeoffice.gov.uk/downloads/National_Reducing_Re-offending_Delivery_Plan.pdf2 Departmental Aims and Objectives (DfES)3 Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, Home Office, 20044 Reducing Re-offending by Ex-Prisoners, Social Exclusion Unit, 20025 Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, Home Office, 20046 Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, Home Office, 20047 Reducing Re-offending by Ex-Prisoners, Social Exclusion Unit, 20028 Reducing Re-offending by Ex-Prisoners, Social Exclusion Unit, 20029 Flood-Page et al 2000 Youth Crime: Findings from the 1998/99 Youth Lifestyle Survey, Home Office10 Social Exclusion Unit, 200211 Risk and Protective Factors, Youth Justice Board, 200512 Internal Estimate based on Youth Justice Annual Statistics 2003/04, Youth Justice Board, 2004 and Gaining Ground in the Community 2002/03, Youth

Justice Board, 200313 SACHs Performance Data, Youth Justice Board (Internal Publication), 200514 Gaining Ground in the Community 2002/03, Youth Justice Board, 200315 SACHs Performance Data, 200516 Progress Report on the Implementation of the Board’s National Specification for Learning and Skills in Juvenile Prison Service Establishments 2003/04,

Youth Justice Board, 200417 References: Social Exclusion Unit, 2002; Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, Home Office 2004; Niven and Olagundoye, Jobs and Homes, 2002;

Hurry et al, 2005, Rapid Evidence Assessment of Interventions that Promote Employment for Offenders (Institute of Education report – forthcoming);Through the Prison Gate, Home Office, 2001; Singleton et al 1998; Psychiatric Morbidity Among Prisoners in England and Wales, 1998; PermanentExclusions from Maintained Schools in England (2002/03) DfES; Population in Custody October 2005, Home Office, 2005.

18 Niven and Olagundoye, Home Office, 200219 Farrington et al, Unemployment, School Leaving and Crime, British Journal of Criminology, 198620 Motuik and Brown, Validity of Offender Needs Identification and Analysis in Community Corrections (Canada), 1993; Farrington Cambridge study in

delinquent development, Institute of Criminology, 198921 Basic Skills Training for Prisoners, ONS, 200422 Hurry et al, forthcoming23 Hurry et al, forthcoming24 Walmsley et al National Prison Survey 1991, Home Office, 199225 Excellence in Cities NFER, 200526 Singleton et al, 1998 27 Permanent Exclusions from Maintained Schools in England (2002/03) DfES28 Through the Prison Gate, Home Office, 200129 References: Walmsley et al (1992); Permanent Exclusions from Maintained Schools in England (2002/03) DfES; Excellence in Cities NFER, 2005; Singleton et

al (1998); Skills for Life Survey DfES, 2003; Prison Statistics in England and Wales 2002 Home Office, 2005; Regional Trends ONS, 2003; Through the PrisonGate Home Office, 2001; Labour Market Statistics ONS, 2004; and Resettlement Survey, Home Office, 2001

30 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/offenderlearning/uploads/docs/FUll%20respnose.pdf31 www.noms.homeoffice.gov.uk/downloads/Perf-report-Offender-Mgmt-targets(04-04_06-05).pdf32 DfES Parliamentary Question response (4494) 15 June 200533 Figures based on internal DfES analysis34 Home Office Parliamentary Question response (16962) 2 November 200535 DfES internal analysis (2005)36 Adult Learning Inspectorate’s Chief Inspector’s Report (2002/03); Adult Learning Inspectorate’s Chief Inspector’s Report (2003/04); Adult Learning

Inspectorate’s Chief Inspector’s Report (2004/05)37 http://www.dfes.gov.uk/publications/skillsgettingon/ 38 Source: National Grid39 Source: National Grid40 Enterprising People, Enterprising Places, National Employment Panel, March 200541 http://press.homeoffice.gov.uk/Speeches/speeches-archive/42 Case study courtesy of the ALI Excalibur Good Practice Database43 Population in custody monthly tables (England & Wales) August 2005, Home Office44 Section 95 Statistics on Women and the CJS, Home Office, 200045 Social Exclusion Unit, 200246 Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, Home Office, 200447 Hurry et al, forthcoming48 Offender Management Caseload Statistics 2003, Home Office, 200449 Walmsley et al, 199250 Annual Labour Force Survey 2002/03, ONS (http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/Product.asp?vlnk=13210)51 Bridgewood and Malbon Survey of the physical health of prisoners 1994, HMSO, 199552 Singleton et al, 199853 Home Office OAsys statistic 2001, unpublished54 Youth Justice Annual Statistics 2003/04, Youth Justice Board, Internal analysis, 200455 Gaining Ground in the community: Annual Review 2002/03 Youth Justice Board, 2003)56 An Audit of Education and Training Provision within the Youth Justice System Youth Justice Board, 200157 Progress Report on the Implementation of the Board’s National Specification for Learning and Skills in Juvenile Prison Service Establishments 2003/04

Youth Justice Board, 200458 YOT Performance Management Information – January to March 2005, Youth Justice Board

Published by TSO (The Stationery Office) and available from:

Online www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

Mail, Telephone, Fax & E-mailTSOPO Box 29, Norwich, NR3 1GN Telephone orders/General enquiries: 0870 600 5522Order through the Parliamentary Hotline Lo-call: 0845 7 023474 Fax orders: 0870 600 5533E-mail: [email protected] Textphone: 0870 240 3701

TSO Shops123 Kingsway, London WC2B 6PQ020 7242 6393 Fax 020 7242 6394 68-69 Bull Street, Birmingham B4 6AD 0121 236 9696 Fax 0121 236 96999-21 Princess Street, Manchester M60 8AS 0161 834 7201 Fax 0161 833 0634 16 Arthur Street, Belfast BT1 4GD 028 9023 8451 Fax 028 9023 5401 18-19 High Street, Cardiff CF10 1PT 029 2039 5548 Fax 029 2038 4347 71 Lothian Road, Edinburgh EH3 9AZ0870 606 5566 Fax 0870 606 5588

TSO Accredited Agents(see Yellow Pages) and through good booksellers

Documents

Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment … · Reducing Re-Offending Through Skills and Employment 6 ... society, the rewards will be great. ... Reducing Re-Offending