Prison education commissioning update for sole traders
The Ministry of Justice’s Dynamic Purchasing System (DPS) has updated its terms to make it easier for sole traders to join the system and bid for education contracts.
The DPS was launched in November 2018 and is specifically designed to enable prison governors to secure specialist or one-off education provision to meet short-term needs.
The recent update includes lowering certain financial due diligence thresholds, which removes restrictions that could prevent unincorporated entities (typically sole traders) from joining.
The National Criminal Justice Arts Alliance (alongside Clinks and the Prisoner Learning Alliance, convened by the Prisoners’ Education Trust) has been tracking the use of the DPS since its inception, and welcomes this development, which we hope will enable a wider range of practitioners to deliver prison education, including independent arts practitioners and social enterprises.
Sign up to the DPS here
Image courtesy of Changing Tunes, credit Tim Snowdon
