HMPPS Innovation Fund - eLearning content

The Government has set out a vision in the Prison Strategy White Paper to deliver a service which equips prisoners with the skills and qualifications they need to get jobs or apprenticeships after they leave custody. Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) has the ambition of improving the quality & quantity of digital eLearning content available to prisoners which can support progression during the course their sentence.
To achieve this commitment, we are seeking innovative solutions to digital eLearning content from the open market. This is to include both online & offline solutions. This will be any learning content except literacy and numeracy content as required in the other PIN. We are open to any content suitable for the cohort of prisoners nationally (18+) and invite solutions to engage learners that cover a variety of offerings (both traditional academic subjects but also any other digital education offering). These courses do not have to be accredited learning offerings. This is a distinct requirement to the wider ongoing Prison Education Service procurement. We know that most prisoners have low levels of education. Around 30% of adult prisoners are assessed as having learning difficulties and disabilities, and a high proportion have been excluded from school. This can make learning and engagement and in more formal settings ‘in the classroom’ challenging or out of reach for many prisoners who need the most support. We are seeking innovative solutions that meet one, or more, of the following criteria:

1. Deliver a wide range of learning opportunities for prisoners to engage with and be interested in learning new skills.
2. Deliver learning in an appealing and accessible way to prisoners (including those that may have additional learning needs) who are currently unable or unwilling to engage in the current education offer to improve their knowledge & skills. In particular, we are interested in approaches that support a more engaging and agile way of delivering education digitally and make use of innovative techniques similar to those used in mainstream Further Education such as gamification.
3. Digital content which promotes engagement and access to education away from the classroom environment (for example in their cells, in the workshops or in other areas of the prison where education is not usually delivered) and allows prisoners to conduct self-directed study.
4. Interactive content which provides the ability to measure progress, receive feedback and allows for analytics to support central assessment. In issuing this Prior Information Notice, the MoJ is seeking to inform the market of this planned procurement with a view to having a virtual market engagement session on 18th August 2022. This will be recorded if you are unable to attend this session. This PIN is in conjunction with another PIN (Learning through Digital delivery ) supporting this priority for digital content and eLearning for other subjects outside of literacy and numeracy.