Education programmes for prisoners in England are to be improved in an effort to reduce re-offending.

The government is going to use �20m earmarked in the Budget for the purpose.

The adult skills minister, John Healey, said education had a central role to play in reintegrating prisoners back into the community.

Providing basic literacy and numeracy teaching as part of an offender's daily regime can reduce re-offending rates - by as much as 12%," he said.

It helped prisoners gain the skills they needed to get a job when they were released.

"Prisoners gained over 24,000 qualifications in literacy and numeracy last year towards our broader adult basic skills targets.

Opportunity

"But to make a real impact, we must increase the quantity and improve the quality of learning available to offenders.

"Only one in five access learning on the inside which simply isn't good enough."

The potential impact on re-offending rates of up to 12% is based on research from Canada published in 1992.

But new research from the Basic Skills Agency in the UK shows a connection between repeated criminal behaviour and poor literacy skills.

It reveals that a quarter of all men born in 1970 have been arrested at some time.

The government says that about 130,000 people pass through prison each year.

Four out of 10 do not have the reading, writing or maths skills expected of an 11 year old.

"Prison should be an opportunity as well as a punishment and I am determined to ensure provision meets prisoners' needs," Mr Healey said.