National Highways has reportedly joined some of Britain’s biggest companies in recruiting ex-offenders under a government initiative to plug skills shortages.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the government orgranisation will be part of a new system of “employment councils” designed to get thousands of offenders into jobs.
Bosses from the companies, which include Greggs, Balfour Beatty, Iceland, Co-op and Greene King, will join the councils in 11 regions spanning England and Wales to help co-ordinate efforts to train and find work for former prisoners.
The councils are being set up by Lord Timpson, the prisons minister whose own retail company, Timpsons, led the way in recruiting ex-inmates.
They will not only bring business leaders into jails to improve education and work opportunities but also link up with probation service and Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to boost contacts with local job centres.
Lord Timpson said: “Getting former offenders into stable work is a sure way of cutting crime and making our streets safer. That’s why partnering with businesses to get more former offenders into work is a win-win.”
Pic: National Highways
