Update 3| April 2015 Wrexham County Borough Council gives evidence at Inquiry on Prisons in Wales and the Treatment of Welsh Offenders Over the past few months, Parliament’s Welsh Affairs Committee has been hearing evidence from several witness on the subject of Prisons in Wales and the Treatment of Welsh Offenders in the Prison Estate. Strategic Director, Lee Robinson and Cllr Hugh Jones from Wrexham County Borough Council gave evidence in January. Other witnesses include: the Welsh Language Commissioner, Chief Inspector of Prisons, Prison Reform Trust and Wales Governance Centre. The final session of the inquiry saw the Committee question Andrew Selous MP, Minister for Prisons, Probation and Rehabilitation, and Sarah Payne, Director, National Offender Management Service in Wales on how Welsh offenders are currently treated in prison and plans for the future of the prison service in Wales, including the North Wales Prison. committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/welsh-affairscommittee/news/prisons-in-wales-ev5/ gain a shared understanding of the development of the new prison and its function; hear about the wider context within which health, wellbeing and social care is delivered to prisoners in Wales; ALREADY consider what it means to deliver health, wellbeing and social care in a prison as an integrated approach to a prisoner’s rehabilitation and resettlement; and find out about work underway and next steps. Colleagues from The National Offender Management Services (NOMS) and Welsh Government presented at the event which was successful in engaging relevant members of staff in the project. The project team are available to answer any queries you may have in relation to Health and Wellbeing within the North Wales Prison. Please don’t hesitate to contact Hannah Beer, [email protected] if you require any further information. CONTACT US If you have further questions about the project, you can e:mail us direct at: [email protected] Or alternatively you can contact the Ministry of Justice at: [email protected] or Or visit our website at: http://www.wrexham.gov.uk/english/ business/prison/ Lend Lease at: [email protected] or #NorthWalesPrison £1.213MILLION HAS BEEN AWARDED TO LOCAL BUSINESSES Design proposal Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board sets up a North Wales Prison Project Team ECONOMIC IMPACT TO DATE: WELCOME TO THE SECOND EDITION OF THE NORTH WALES PRISON REGIONAL NEWSLETTER To view the evidence given at the inquiry please click on the link below: http://www.parliament.uk/business/ A North Wales Prison Project Team has been set up, led by the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, to look at how health care and wellbeing services will be provided within the North Wales Prison. A briefing session was held at the end of November for lead managers and clinicians who will be supporting the development of the health care services. This gave health staff a chance to: Update 2| April 2015 North Wales Prison - Project News REGIONAL UPDATE NORTH WALES PRISON OPERATOR ANNOUNCED Since our last edition, the North Wales Prison Project has continued to move at quite a pace with significant key milestones being achieved. This edition will bring you up to date on this key strategic project for North Wales. Items within this issue are: Operator Announcement Employment & Skills Committee Employment & Skills Symposium Prison Build Update Expression of Interest Form for Jobs & Apprenticeships Welsh Affairs Committee Inquiry on Prisons in Wales Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board Update Prisons Minister, Andrew Selous, has announced that the new prison in Wrexham will be operated by Her Majesty’s Prison Service (HMPS) On 24 February, it was announced that the prison, which will open in 2017, will be run by an innovative new approach that will see the best public, voluntary and private sectors working together. HMPS will take overall ownership of the prison but with 34% of service provision outsourced—including the large industrial workshop complex. Prisons Minister Andrew Selous said: “I am pleased to announce that the new prison in North Wales will be operated by Her Majesty’s Prison Service as part of an innovative new approach to running prisons. Our combination of benchmarking and outsourcing services is saving taxpayers around £400 million a year and not it will allow us to deliver a truly efficient prison in Wrexham that is based on best practice from the opening of previous prisons. This prison reflects the true success of our reforms in helping to create a modern low-cost prison estate, and is proving a real boost to the North Wales Economy with over £1.1 million already committed to local companies well ahead of the 250,000 target for 2014”. Councillor Hugh Jones—WCBC Lead Member for Communities, Partnership & Collaboration “We look forward to working with Her Majesty’s Prison Service in conjunction with our partners to ensure that the North Wales Prison delivers positive benefits to the local economy and effective rehabilitation of offenders. To date the construction work has contributed at least £1.1 m to the local economy and over 80% of the jobs are local. We are working with partner agencies to ensure that North Wales Prison makes a very real contribution to the reduction in re-offending by providing support to the prisoners during and after their sentence.” STOP PRESS—THURSDAY 26 MARCH 2015—The Ministry of Justice signs the main construction contract with Lend Lease for the North Wales Prison REGION TAKES A ROLE ON LEND LEASE’S NORTH WALES PRISON EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS COMMITTEE Prison Build Update Lend Lease has continued with the early works on site on this £212 million construction project and local businesses have been successful in securing some of these early packages. The secure perimeter fencing is currently being erected and will be complete by the end of April STRONG ATTENDANCE BY NORTH WALES STAKEHOLDERS AT THE EMPLOYMENT & SKILLS SYMPOSIUM HELD AT GLYNDWR UNIVERSITY IN JANUARY An Employment, Skills & Engagement Committee has been formed by Lend Lease to look at ways to maximize Lend Lease’s Local Commitments—around jobs, work placements and apprenticeships — for North Wales in this phase. Representatives from the Ministry of Justice (MOJ), National Offender Management Services (NOMS), Lend Lease, Wrexham County Borough Council and the North Wales Economic Ambition Board make up this Committee. One of the first tasks of the new Committee was to plan and deliver the Employment & Skills Symposium that took place in January (see next page). 2015, together with the foundations for the first house block, the car park and the support building. The planting of the trees along Bridge Road took place in January 2015 and 2,106 daffodils were also planted before Christmas. Follow the link below for Opportunities to become part of Lend Lease supply chain http://www.sell2wales.gov.uk/news/news_article.aspx? Speakers at the Symposium from the left are: Rita Patel-Miller, Lend Lease Community & Training Manager; Simon Caron, Lend Lease Programme Director; Sarah Payne, Director of NOMS in Wales; Alun Cairns, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Wales; Iwan Trefor-Jones, North Wales Economic Ambition Board; Neil Caves, MoJ New Prison Programme Manager; Iwan Thomas, North Wales Economic Ambition Board. JOBS AND APPRENTICESHIP EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FORM AVAILABLE An EOI form is now available for people interested in working on the North Wales Prison project during the construction phase. The forms can be accessed on Wrexham County Borough Council’s website or by e:mailing: [email protected] or [email protected] PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT A JOB APPLICATION FORM; THERE WILL BE A SEPARATE APPLICATION FORM FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN WORKING IN THE PRISON NEARER TO ITS OPENING WELSH MINISTER VISITS NORTH WALES PRISON SITE Alun Cains, Parilamentary under Secretary of State for Wales, and Sarah Payne, Director of the National Offender Management Service in Wales visit the North Wales Prison site on Wrexham Industrial Estate to see how work is progressing prior to attending the Symposium at Glyndwyr University. The Employment & Skills Symposium was held at Glyndwr University on 30 January 2015. This prestigious event welcomed approx. 100 delegates. It brought together key stakeholders from across North Wales and surrounding regions, including Local Authorities, Welsh Government, and work and education providers such as Careers Wales, Job Centre Plus and DWP. The aim was to explore ways of delivering the local commitments relating to apprenticeships, work placements and local employment in a co-ordinated and accessible way. Alun Cairns, Parliamentary Under Secretary of state for Wales in his opening address said: “Wrexham prison provides an excellent opportunity to generate jobs and growth in North Wales. Already £1.1 million has been assigned to local businesses with over 80% of those employed on site from the local area. The North Wales economy is already feeling the benefit and I am confident that through our ambitious plans, it will continue to do so over the coming months and years. Sarah Payne, Director of NOMS in Wales, stated that her ambition was for the North Wales Prison to be a flagship prison for other prisons in England and Wales. Director of NOMS in Wales announced at the event “The North Wales Prison will be an exemplar Flagship Project”
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