Short Term Offenders Should be Given Work Experience & Training to Help Integrate Back Into Society

LONDON, February 3 - The government must provide better education and training opportunities
to offenders on remand and those serving short term sentences to help them
into meaningful employment, re-integrate them into society and cut
reoffending.

A six-month inquiry has uncovered evidence that not enough is being done
to tackle the issue of ex offenders unable to secure work because of
inadequate or irrelevant training leading to poor skills and a lack of
qualifications.

With over half (52%) of male offenders and 71% of female offenders[1]
having no qualifications, and with GBP 30 million[2] wasted each year on
prisoners being transferred before they complete education courses, urgent
improvements to the system are needed.

Improving education and skills alone could help cut reoffending and save
up to GBP 325 million a year in the process.[3]

The National Skills Forum has made the call as part of its six-month
inquiry into the links between skills training and the social exclusion of
offenders, people with disabilities and black and minority groups, and comes
less than a week after latest figures showed that unemployment is twice as
high amongst young black people compared with their white peers.

Across all three of the social groups investigated, the inquiry found
that a combination of inflexible funding and low expectations of peer groups
and employers, alongside a government obsession with 'ticking boxes' over
training provision, is to blame for a swathe of worklessness and social
exclusion.

Gordon Marsden MP, inquiry co-chair, said:

'We have to urgently expand our approach to training, skills and
education for a generation of learners from disadvantaged or excluded groups.
We must act to provide them with the kinds of educational and training
opportunities that we provide to others to help boost their skills and
improve their lives. That's an absolutely vital requirement and message for
any society wishing to make the best use of its talent and resources and to
boost social inclusion.'

Jacqui Henderson CBE, inquiry co-chair and Director of Creative
Leadership & Skills Strategies, added:

'Getting training right is about giving people the skills they and
potential employers actually need and raising expectations of what learners
from disadvantaged or excluded groups can achieve. What emerged very clearly
from the inquiry was that we must start with the needs of the learner rather
than obsessing about targets and box ticking.

That means putting in place simplified funding mechanisms that support
people with disabilities into training and on into work and doing more to
tackle negative or low aspirations around black and minority ethnic learners.

Too many offenders are still falling through the cracks and going back
into prison because they don't have the right skills and opportunities to
make that leap into employment. It is not simply enough that we recognise
these perennial problems; we must take the kind of bold policy steps
recommended by this inquiry to meet these people's needs.'

The report calls for a new approach to monitoring and tackling inequality
in skills training provision. Proposals for doing this include:

For Black & Minority Ethnic Learners

    - Government communicating more effectively to parents of BME
      learners the learning options and careers choices available
    - Government (DCSF) and Training & Development Agency to address
      negative aspirations of BME learners by providing enhanced career
      guidance
    - Office for Fair Access should encourage Russell Group
      universities to participate in careers guidance at institutions with a
      high BME student intake

For Offenders

    - Greater use of release on temporary licence for work
      experience and work trials to boost ex-offenders employability
    - Employer network to be set-up to share knowledge and best
      practice on employing ex-offenders
    - Government to include education & training as inherent part of
      sentencing process, especially for those on short-term sentences
    - Participation in education & training should be made integral to
      the daily prison regime
    - Government must raise investment in IT learning resources, such
      as the 'Virtual Campus' e-learning initiative to help offenders
      continue their education despite transfer between prisons

For people with disabilities

    - Employers and government should partner to encourage
      employers to promote equality and diversity and to target
      underrepresented groups within their sector.
    - Government needs to simplify funding mechanisms to support
      disabled learners and reduce the bureaucratic burden on disabled
      learners, their families and employers wishing to access training
    - Learners with disabilities should be given greater access to
      training in a job related environment to help better prepare them for
      the world of work

The inquiry is sponsored by the TEC Trust Fund, a charitable fund
established to further the pursuit of skills excellence in the UK.

Visit www.skillsandinclusion.org.uk to download the report from
Wednesday 3rd February and updates.

Notes to Editors

About Us

We are an entirely not-for-profit organisation working in partnership
with the Associate Parliamentary Skills Group, dedicated to raising the
profile and status of skills training in the UK.

The Forum brings together Parliament, employers and the skills sector to
help promote effective skills policy as a central means of ensuring personal
and economic development necessary for the 21st century.

The Forum is a Policy Connect activity. Policy Connect is a non-profit,
non-party political organisation dedicated to building bridges between
Parliament, business and the public sector to help craft inclusive thinking
for smarter policy.

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[1] Home Office, Reducing Reoffending: National Action Plan p.15 (2004)

[2] National Audit Office, Meeting Needs? The Offenders' Learning and
Skills Service p.7 (2008)

[3] Professor Tom Schuller, Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong
Learning: Learning Through Life (2009)

For embargoed copies of the report, case studies and interview opportunities, contact: Daniel Golding, Communications Manager, +44-(0)20-7202-8587 / daniel.golding at policyconnect.org.uk