A series of briefing events have been held over the last year, hosted by Sir John Parker and Dr Mary Harris, to inform and engage companies with large supply chains in the Young Offender Programme.
To date over 50 major UK companies have attended these events and firm commitments have been received from the following industry sectors.
In February 2004, a Steering Committee was established, chaired by Sir John Parker, comprising Chairmen and CEO’s of the five sectors and the Director General of CBI. The first Steering Group meeting took place in May 2004. A Working Group led by Dr Mary Harris has also been set up with representative champions from each sector to deliver the agreed target figures. The first meeting of the group took place in July.
The National Strategy was launched at an event in February 2005 at Lancaster House, this was hosted by Sir John Parker and Financial Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms, MP.
On 16th March 2004, Sir John Parker and Dr Mary Harris presented evidence on the Offender Training and Employment Programme to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Rehabilitation of Offenders.
The recent Home Office National Action Plan on Reducing Re-Offending, which set out a strategy for more effective work to rehabilitate offenders, also highlights National Grid’s Offender Training and Employment Programme.
Its effectiveness has also been recognised and featured in the Social Exclusion Unit Report on reducing re-offending.
The programme won cross party acclaim and Dr Mary Harris shared a platform with Ministers and Shadow Ministers at the Autumn Party Conferences.
Training offenders for the gas industry is at the heart of this inspiring scheme. As well as providing motivated, skilled gas network operatives, the programme is delivering shareholder value and increasing the positive perceptions of many stakeholders.
The benefits for society include greatly reduced re-offending rates and therefore reduced financial and social costs of crime. The Programme is developed as a win/win model and a replicable model, with the potential to engage other industries in breaking the cycle of crime while simultaneously meeting business needs. We believe that what makes our programme uniquely innovative is its focus on real employment rather than on employability.
The pre-release programme runs in partnership with National Grid’s contractors, who provide jobs and support for successful trainees when they leave prison. Every trainee is offered support and mentoring both pre and post release in order to ease the transition from prison life to the world of work.
The 13 week Gas Network Operative (GNO) NVQ level 1 courses operate from ‘hub’ prisons: HM & YOI Reading (South); HMP Wymott, nr Preston (North West) and HM YOI Glen Parva, nr Leicester (East Midlands), with twelve further prisons feeding candidates into the hub prisons.
The hub system meets the needs of the trainees to be in a location near contractors sites for the eight week work experience so they can go out to placements each day and return to prison at night. All trainees must be eligible for release on temporary licence (ROTL) and pass stringent prison selection boards and external interviews before being accepted for the course. The programme is offered to both adult and young offenders in both open and closed establishments.
The expansion and roll out of the programme is now underway under the leadership of Sir John Parker and Dr Mary Harris and our model has become a blueprint for wider industry adoption. The industrial sector companies are now replicating the model of training and employing offenders in their businesses to meet their own skills needs. From 2006, 1,300 offenders will be trained and employed by five industrial sectors and therefore has the potential to reduce the cost of re-offending across the UK.
The programme has won a number of Awards including a National Training Award, Business in the Community Awards for Excellence and a Utility Week Award.