Justice written question – answered at on 17 June 2011.
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice with reference to his Department's Green Paper, Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders, page 33, paragraph 112, which business leaders his Department has identified to champion employers working with offenders on skills-based programmes to support rehabilitation.
Both the Green Paper “Breaking the Cycle: Effective Punishment, Rehabilitation and Sentencing of Offenders” and the recently published offender learning review “Making Prison Work: Skills for Rehabilitation” place skills and employment at the heart of rehabilitation. Both reviews place significant emphasis on relationships with employers in ensuring that skills training and development for offenders match the skills demands of employers and the business community.
To ensure dialogue between Government and employers, a number of business leaders have been brought together to lead the Employer Forum for Reducing Re-Offending, acting as advisers, champions and advocates to other employers regarding supporting offenders to obtain employment. The forum is driven by a leadership team chaired by James Timpson OBE, Chief Executive of Timpson Ltd and comprises membership of 14 other companies including Marks and Spencer, DHL, Mitie Group, Greggs, Cisco Systems, Transport for London, Sodexho, Bovis Lend Lease, SERCO and Compass Group.
Within the wider forum of employers, there are many other private sector organisations currently supporting skills training in both custody and community including National Grid and its extensive supply chain of companies, Sainsbury's, Enterprise plc and Tesco. There are many other examples of successful partnerships across the National Offender Management Service, whether employers are recruiting offenders directly from prison, running a prison workshop, providing work placements or helping shape policy and practice.
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