Overview

Background

To date over 80 major UK companies have engaged with National Grid in the programme from the following industry sectors.

• gas / electricity
• engineering / construction
• utility contractors
• logistics
• support services
• financial services

Sectors established in the Public arena include Universities and the Fire Brigade.

Government Support

On 1st November 2011 the Rt Hon Cheryl Gillian, Secretary of State for Wales hosted a reception at Lancaster House in London and pledged her and the Government’s support to the programme. The event marked the 2000th person going through the Young Offender Programme, led by National Grid.

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 and in reports produced by the Home Affairs select committee.

The programme won cross party acclaim.

Training and Employment – Benefits and Expansion

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 prisons such as: HMP & YOI Rochester and HMP Blantyre House in Kent, with 22 further prisons also engaged.

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. Trainees spend five weeks in a training centre and eight weeks at a work placement on a contractor’s site. The programme is offered to male and female, adult and young offenders in open and closed establishments.

The expansion and roll out of the programme is under the leadership of National Grid’s Chief Executive Steve Holliday and 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.

The programme has won a number of Awards including a National Training Award, Business in the Community Awards for Excellence and Utility Week Awards.