England, Wales to Offer Apprenticeships and Skills Training to Prisoners

The main entrance to HM Prison Norwich, in Knox Road, Norwich, Norfolk, on Jan. 3, 2020. Nick Ansell/PA Media

Prisoners in England and Wales will have the opportunity to enter apprenticeships or get trained in “skills of the future,” the government has said on Friday.

Writing in The Times, Justice Secretary Dominic Raab and Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said they’re working on introducing apprenticeship programmes into prisons so offenders can turn their lives around and fill the gap in the labour market.

They also said new prisons are being built with in-cell technology and modern workshops, to equip offenders with in-demand skills.

The ministers said employed ex-offenders are up to 9 percent less likely to re-offend, but only 14 percent can get employed within six months of their release, and they’re currently unable to access apprenticeships that will help them be job-ready upon release.

The ministers said they have “introduced a presumption that prison governors work towards offering suitably vetted and appropriate prisoners work opportunities across the whole prison estate. ”

They also said more than 80 ex-offenders and offenders working on temporary licences have helped with the construction of the new prisons at Glen Parva and HMP Five Wells at Wellingborough, and there have been ex-offenders working at the Ministry of Justice as well.

According to The Times, the government will legislate to allow open prison inmates in England and Wales to apply for apprenticeships in sectors that were not able to fill vacancies in the past year, such as hospitality, construction, HGV driving, and agriculture.

Speaking to the publication, Raab asked employers to “give it a go, try just one offender and see how that goes.”

Taking people released on a temporary license as an example, Raab said they have more incentive to show up to work than the general population as they would otherwise land themselves back in prison.

Some 100 initial prisoners will enter the scheme, which will be extended across England and Wales.

Raab and Zahawi said that the government is building 20,000 extra prison spaces to “reinforce public protection,” and six new prisons are designed to enable work training.

New prisons are being built with in-cell technology and modern workshops, to equip offenders with skills they need, and businesses want. Six new prisons have been designed to play a crucial role in cutting crime by enabling thousands of prisoners to have access to work training.

“The new prison at Glen Parva in Leicestershire, for instance, will train up to 500 prisoners at a time in the skills of the future such as coding, recycling, and waste management—a springboard to finding a job on release in new and emerging technologies,” the ministers wrote.

The overarching UK government and Parliament are responsible for justice and policing policies in England and Wales, while local governments and parliaments in Scotland and Northern Ireland are in charge of their own policy in this area.