Speeches by Sewards.

“Victoria, do you have anything to add about what would stop prisoners from taking up education right now?”

“Have you seen any best practice at all that you think could be applied to organisations where it is not working?”

“Thank you for your answer.”

“I am the MP for Leeds South West and Morley. I am a former maths teacher, and all my interests are declared on the website.”

“Tessa has already teased out quite a lot of the information that I was going to ask about, but I wanted to ask you about the level of need across prisons. Of course, Annick, you have already set out what the percentages are for the prisons that you work with. My question would be then to Jon and Michala: does that matc…”

“Thank you, Chair. Lee, you have already mentioned the figure of 86% of all inspections—was that within five years?”

“That is just over the last year. Something like 87% of all inspections over the last five years have been inadequate or requires improvement, so the state of prison education is not good. What needs to be done to improve it?”

“Before I move on to ask the other panel members, is there a core or central reason that keeps coming up as to why so many provisions are being declared inadequate?”

“That is interesting. You would say it is about the leadership of the prisons as opposed to the safeguarding. I was a maths teacher in another life, and often safeguarding in schools is the No. 1 reason that they tend to become inadequate; but when it comes to prisons, it is actually leadership and management.”

“To the other panel members, in your view, what are the barriers to the take-up of prison education by prisoners? What is stopping people who want to take up education in prisons from doing so?”

“Victoria, do you have anything to add about what would stop prisoners from taking up education right now?”

“Have you seen any best practice at all that you think could be applied to organisations where it is not working?”

“Thank you for your answer.”

“Yes.”

“You have answered the first part brilliantly. The second part of the question is, how could schools make sure they meet the needs of all their students, regardless of their ability, background or need?”

“It does.”

“Of course. It is quite a long question. I am happy to repeat it as many times as you like. What were your experiences in mainstream and specialist education settings, and how could this have been improved? The second part is, how can schools make sure they meet the needs of all their students regardless of ability, bac…”

“Brilliant. Thank you so much. If you have further input, I am very happy to take that later on as well. Can we go to you next, Sarah?”

“Is there anything you think schools could do to improve? So let us say, as you articulated very well, that you do not think inclusivity works. What would you suggest?”

“My name is Mark Sewards. I am an MP from Morley, which is in Leeds. I have several parts to this question, but you have already answered the first part very well, so feel free to focus on the second part. I will mix it up a bit with who we go to first. What were your experiences in mainstream and specialist education s…”