Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 13 Apr 2000

Vol. 518 No. 2

Written Answers. - Prison Education Service.

Ivor Callely

Question:

124 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the evaluation carried out of the prison education service; the total cost of this service in 1999; the likely cost in 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11249/00]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

The prison education service consists of a partnership between the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, acting primarily through the co-ordinator of education, prison staff and a range of educational agencies from the community outside. Vocational education committees and the public library services throughout the country make the largest contribution to, and are the mainstay of, the prison education service. The service also includes as partners the Open University, the Arts Council, the National College of Art and Design – NCAD – and a number of other public and community groups.

Prison education has grown greatly in recent decades, achieving a substantial presence in all prisons and engaging more than half of all prisoners voluntarily in classes. The key to this progress has been the commitment of, and the development of specialist expertise by, these education bodies.

The kind of evaluation carried out of the work of the educational agencies in the community is applied in prisons also. Thus, the vocational education committees themselves and the inspectorate of the Department of Education and Science evaluate the programmes of the VEC teachers in prisons. Most education units in prisons conduct reviews of their programmes periodically in conjunction, usually, with prison management, the relevant VEC and the co-ordinator of education. In addition, the co-ordinator of education in my Department has the responsibility for monitoring the activities of education staff in prisons and he reports regularly on the state of the prison education service. His most recent published report is for the two years 1995 and 1996. A strategy statement for the prison education service for the period 1999 to 2001 is also available.

The cost of prison education, under subhead G of the prison Vote, was £577,000 in 1999, and £656,000 has been allocated for the year 2000. Elements of some other subheads of the prison Vote would also relate to the provision of education and library services in prisons. The salaries of VEC teachers in prisons are paid by the Department of Education and Science. For the academic year 1998-99, the Department of Education and Science allocated 172.45 wholetime teacher equivalents to prisons. In 1999-2000 the allocation is 178.21. That Department estimates an average wholetime teacher costs £26,500, making the cost of their contribution to prisons for this year to be in the region of £4,722,565.