Committee publication · Correspondence · 14 January 2026 · HC 702
Letter to and from Prisoners’ Education Trust, following the 29 October evidence session on Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation in Wales, dated 1 & 19 December 2025
From: Welsh Affairs Committee
Summary
Correspondence between the Welsh Affairs Committee and Prisoners' Education Trust following an October 2025 evidence session on prisons, probation and rehabilitation. The committee posed written questions on contracting effectiveness, barriers to prisoner education engagement, and challenges for service providers. The Trust's response addresses Wales' unique dual-funding landscape, identifies Welsh women as particularly disadvantaged (no female prisons in Wales), highlights severe overcrowding limiting education access, and calls for urgent prison education funding restoration and expanded Wales-specific data collection.
Key findings
- Welsh prisons are severely overcrowded (HMP Swansea at 163%, HMP Cardiff at 151% capacity), causing regime curtailment that makes classroom access nearly impossible for many prisoners, with some spending 23 hours daily in cells.
- Welsh women are systematically disadvantaged: all custodial sentences are served in English prisons (notably HMP Eastwood Park where education was rated 'requires improvement'), with curricula historically limited to 'hospitality, nail art and soap making' and average custody of only 46 days.
- Wales has the highest imprisonment rate in Western Europe (177 per 100,000 population, more than double the regional average), yet education funding cuts in England (20–50% reductions) are reducing third-sector provider capacity to address gaps.
- Contracting for education in Welsh prisons (HMPs Berwyn and Parc) is viewed as collaborative, unlike England's prescriptive approach, but lacks inflation protection over contract lifetimes, limiting long-term delivery.
- Data availability on Welsh prisons falls 'far short' of English equivalents, particularly on prison education, hindering effective evidence-based policy assessment.
Tone
CriticalTopics
Key actors
Jon Collins, Ruth Jones MP, Prisoners' Education Trust, Welsh Affairs Committee, HM Prison and Probation Service, Ministry of Justice, Novus Cambria, Novus Gower
Notable line
“Wales has the highest imprisonment rate of any UK nation and, therefore, the highest imprisonment rate of any country in Western Europe.”
Key Quotes
“During the session, we were unable to cover all of the questions my committee had intended to ask you.”
“Welsh women face particular challenges as a result of the unique delivery landscape in Wales.”
“The fact that there are no prisons for women in Wales means that all women who receive a custodial sentence in Wales are sent to prisons in England for the duration of their sentence.”
“Wales has the highest imprisonment rate of any UK nation and, therefore, the highest imprisonment rate of any country in Western Europe.”
“Overcrowding is linked to radically reduced regimes, with some prisoners spending up to 23 hours per day in their cells. vi This makes access to education departments all but impossible.”
“If the Government is to be taken seriously when it claims it wants to reduce reoffending …”
“… the amount of detailed data available on the prison system in Wales falls far short of that available for the system in England …”
Source · parliament.uk record ↗