- charities and social enterprises given support for projects
to promote wellbeing, improve rehabilitation and reduce
reoffending
- part of commitment to support the third sector in delivering
vital rehabilitative services
Offenders will be able to learn vital skills to help them back
into work after release thanks to £2.4 million funding announced
today (27 September 2018).
Grants have been awarded to 13 charitable organisations and
social enterprises as part of new Her Majesty’s Prison and
Probation Service (HMPPS) funding.
The grants have been awarded to a wide range of organisations
providing everything from support into employment for female
abuse victims to training for prisoners in computer programming.
Evidence shows having sustainable work on release significantly
reduces reoffending; the support provided by these charities will
help prisons promote employment opportunities for those who have
been in custody.
Earlier this year the Secretary of State, , announced the Education and
Employment strategy, which will provide a new focus on work as
having the potential to provide a foundation for a better life
for people who have been in contact with the criminal justice
system.
Prisons Minister said:
I am delighted to be able to award this funding and have such a
wide range of innovative organisations on board and ready to
support offenders both in and out of prison.
This investment shows that we are committed to supporting the
role of the third sector in delivering vital rehabilitative
services.
Charities and social enterprises are crucial in helping us to
provide better rehabilitation, promote wellbeing and ultimately
reduce reoffending and I look forward to seeing the positive
impact of these grants over the coming years.
Digby Griffith, Executive Director for Rehabilitation and
Assurance, and Chair of the HMPPS Grants Board said:
We received a high calibre of applications and it is fantastic
to be able to give these voluntary sector and social enterprise
organisations the opportunity to test their innovative ideas
within a HMPPS setting.
I am delighted to award this funding and I look forward to
seeing the projects progress over the next 2 years.
The organisations were asked to submit innovative bids that met
with seven key themes aimed at improving rehabilitation,
promoting wellbeing and reducing reoffending.
As part of a comprehensive bidding process which saw over 200
applications for funding, the 13 successful applicants can be
announced today, they are:
- St Giles Trust
- Barnardo’s
- NEPACS
- National Autistic Society
- Rape and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (Darlington &
County Durham)
- Shared Enterprise CIC
- No Place Productions
- Birth Companions
- Samaritans
- Design Against Crime Research Centre
- Code4000
- Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge
- Safer Living Foundation
The new money will be invested over 2 years, allowing a wide
variety of voluntary sector and social enterprise organisations
to develop their projects in a range of different environments
across England and Wales - from Camden to Kirkham.
Code4000 will teach prisoners computer programming skills, Design
Against Crime Research Centre will work with offenders to design
and pilot new anti-vandal and safe cell furniture, while the Rape
and Sexual Abuse Counselling Centre (Darlington & County
Durham) will support women who have experienced sexual violence
to help them find employment on release.
The aim of the HMPPS grant programme is to improve the lives of
offenders by applying the expertise, skills and ideas of
voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organisations.
Community based organisations are often best placed to identify
local needs and respond flexibly to engage with hard to reach
groups, such as offenders and those at risk of offending.
This has been proven through the Grants Programme which has been
the starting place for several activities, projects, products and
ways of working which now form part of HMPPS core business.
Thanks to grant-funding, many projects are now embedded into
HMPPS approaches. These include the Prison Listener Scheme, work
undertaken by Unlock to help prisoners open bank accounts, family
engagement workers, mentoring schemes and National Prison Radio.
