The Enable programme will combine structured learning with sustained workplace experience to develop officers' practical skills and professional judgement.
McKinnell disclosed the plan in answers to Redditch MP Chris Bloore about prison workforce planning and the former custody and detention apprenticeship.
The earlier apprenticeship closed in August 2025 after a review of its operational sustainability and delivery arrangements. Ministers have no plans to revive it in its previous form.
A new foundation learning programme will begin in April 2027, while the Ministry of Justice undertakes a wider procurement exercise for apprenticeship provision.
McKinnell also confirmed that the department does not have a formal national prison workforce strategy. She pointed instead to an internal HMPPS people strategy and a new staffing resource model for public-sector prisons.
The answer therefore combines a concrete training reform with a clear limit: ministers have announced a new learning route but not the national workforce strategy Bloore asked about.
