CIE a finalist for public sector excellence award

The Department of Corrections’ work in employment training for prisoners has been recognised and praised by the Institute of Public Administration New Zealand (IPANZ).

Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) has been announced as a finalist for the 2011 IPANZ Gen-i Public Sector Excellence Awards, which pays tribute to the work undertaken by a public sector organisation to improve public value.

CIE was nominated for the work it has undertaken to transform the way it delivers training to prisoners to significantly improve their chances of getting a job after release.

“It is so encouraging to have our successes recognised like this,” says CIE’s National Manager Scott Gretton. “Not only does the nomination acknowledge the ongoing effort to improve the work that we do, but also the impact it has on the social and economic well being of this country.”

“Raising the skill levels of prisoners and improving literacy not only helps their chances of finding sustainable employment on release, but more importantly makes prisoners less likely to re-offend, which in turn helps to keep our communities safe.

“CIE aligns prisoner training with recognised qualifications and with known skills shortages in New Zealand to increase prisoner chances of finding employment after release. This has been aided by increased support by Industry Training Organisations and Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics.

“Nationally, there's been an up to 80 per cent increase in NZQA recognised qualifications attained by prisoners for 2010 compared to the previous financial year,” says Mr Gretton.

In 2009/10, 495 National Certificates were gained across the country, up from 275 National Certificates in 2008/09. The anticipated 2010/11 figure is over 600. These are all in areas where there is a high demand in labour.

“There are a number of programmes in place to help prisoners develop employment skills and gain qualifications so that the Department can reach its goal of increasing the number of prisoners gaining skills and work experience by 1,000 by 2012. It is fantastic that these efforts and achievements have been acknowledged by IPANZ,” Mr Gretton says.

The winners will be announced at the Awards Evening on 22 June.

ENDS

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