I am all for consultations, but I want this Bill to happen as soon as possible. I have wanted something like this for many years. I do have issues with it that I am going to talk about, but I am very excited about it and just want it to happen without any further delay.
As I mentioned, I support the Bill as a whole, but I have always lived and worked by the mantra, “Good, better, best.” When I was growing up and learning to walk, my old physio used to say, “Good, better, best, may you never rest, until your good is better and your better is your best”—it is the sort of thing you see on a toilet wall sometimes, but it has been my mantra, and it is what I want for this Bill. That is why I proposed these three new clauses to make sure that the ladder of opportunity can be extended to those most in need.
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New clause 1 aims to ensure that prisoners can start apprenticeships while serving their sentences. The Education Committee is doing an inquiry on prison education, and investment in prison education is key to lowering reoffending rates, which are currently at 42% and are much higher for young offenders. That will strengthen the workforce and help to meet our skills needs as a nation.
The proportion of offenders in employment one year after release is just 17%. The absence of apprenticeships in prisons is a huge obstacle to improving employment outcomes. That is why I was delighted to welcome the work the Secretary of State has done in collaboration with the Justice Secretary to begin to introduce apprenticeships and other provisions to create a skills and training bridge to employment. That will help ex-offenders to find skilled work and will potentially save the taxpayer £18 billion in terms of the cost of reoffending. It is a win-win situation, and I thank the Secretary of State and the Justice Secretary for really tackling the issue. For that reason, I am content not to press new clause 1, but I ask the Minister in his response to provide a timeframe for when the new regulations to introduce prisoner apprenticeships will be laid.