Ceist:
152 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the spending on educational services in his Department's Vote 21, subhead G, in 1999 or the last year for which information is available. [2382/99]
Written Answers. - Educational Spending.
Ceist:
153 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will provide details of his Department's spending on educational services for prisoners and ex-prisoners in the past ten years. [2383/99]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 152 and 153 together.
Details of the Department's spending on educational services under subhead G of the prisons Vote for the last ten years are as follows:
|
Year |
Amount (£000) |
|
1988 |
£235 |
|
1989 |
£248 |
|
1990 |
£311 |
|
1991 |
£449 |
|
1992 |
£338 |
|
1993 |
£369 |
|
1994 |
£416 |
|
1995 |
£398 |
|
1996 |
£396 |
|
1997 |
£448 |
|
1998 |
£528 |
The figure for 1998 is provisional.
Information regarding 1999 spending is not yet available. However, £577,000 has been allocated under this subhead in the 1999 Estimates. In addition, 170 whole-time equivalent teaching posts in the prison service are funded by local vocational educational committees.
Ceist:
154 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress of the initiatives under way between his Department and the Arts Council, the Open University and other third level colleges which provide educational opportunities for offenders. [2384/99]
Participation in education in Irish prisons is high by international standards. In recent years the number of prisoners voluntarily participating in education classes in the prison system has been consistently over 50 per cent. Development of curricula offered to prisoners, particularly those who are educationally disadvantaged, is continuing.
My Department successfully operates two schemes with the Arts Council: writers workshops in prisons and artists workshops in prisons. The artists scheme is the more active at present and involves artists doing an intensive workshop, eight to ten days, complementing the work of the VEC art teacher in a prison. These workshops took place in most prisons last year. This scheme is administered by the Arts Council with a designated prison teacher acting as co-ordinator-liaison person. Costs of the schemes are shared 50:50 by the Arts Council and my Department. Our contribution for 1998 was £7,000 and it has recently been agreed to increase that contribution to £10,000 for 1999.
The Open University has been providing degree level courses since 1985 for prisoners who are deemed to be ready for such study and have sufficient time in their sentences to complete courses. In most years since then 40 to 50 prisoners have studied each year. There has been a significant increase in this figure of late with 70 prisoners registered for 1999. The most popular courses are in the social sciences, the arts and technology but some prisoners also study mathematics or science.
The National College of Art and Design has been running a course in Portlaoise Prison for over ten years, usually involving 15 to 20 prisoners, both subversive and non-subversive. It covers painting, drawing and video production. It is seen as extremely successful with several prisoners going on to work as artists after release or going to art college. This course is administered from the director's office at the NCAD. It has recently been extended on a limited scale, two evenings per week, to the training unit, Dublin.