Tribal Technology has secured a four year contract with an estimated value of £10.7 million with the Learning and Skills Council in the South West of England. The contract is to coordinate the delivery of learning to offenders (both in prison and during probation), by providing information advice and guidance (IAG), resettlement advice and management information to enable the learner to be tracked throughout their learning journey.

Following the Government’s commitment to provide offenders with access to IAG services as well as improving learning opportunities, Tribal Technology was chosen, out of 130 companies to deliver this provision in the South West. The South West is one of the three pilot regions; the remaining six regions to provide this service will go live with the new model by August 2006.

The vision encompasses tracking, supporting and educating offenders from ‘custody to community’ ensuring that the new model for delivery will increase offender participation and achievement, thereby improving employability and lessening the chances of re-offending.

The contract with Tribal Technology has three elements:

• information advice and guidance (IAG) services
• e-learning delivery
• management information system

IAG services will provide offenders with the necessary knowledge and confidence to return to the education environment and increase their chances of employment. Tribal Technology will also provide the technology to deliver remote learning courses ranging from basic skills to higher education degrees.

The IAG and education given to offenders, their individual progress and the coordination of such services will all be managed by Tribal Technology’s management information system which has been specifically developed to meet the complex needs of this education provision.

Tribal Technology is exceptionally well positioned to deliver this complex contract given its market leading pre-eminence in the field of educational delivery/tracking systems combined with its direct IAG delivery experience.