Express & Star

Give jobs to criminals: Council boss calls on firms to hire ex-crooks and utilise their 'talents'

Firms have been urged to hand jobs to criminals and the long-term unemployed in a bid to shore up the region's skills shortage.

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Dr Julie Nugent

Bosses at the West Midlands super council said it was vital that businesses considered the 'talents' of ex-offenders and gave them the chance to 'realise their full potential'.

The claims were made by Dr Julie Nugent at a conference entitled ‘The Future of Business: Employment solutions in light of Brexit – the untapped labour force’.

Dr Nugent, the West Midlands Combined Authority's skills director, said: “The WMCA is committed to inclusive growth.

"We welcome the economic growth that is happening across the region but we need to ensure that prosperity is shared by all.

“Many businesses are already working with ex-offenders and offering them a chance to realise their full potential.

“The conference provided more businesses with the chance to hear these success stories and, hopefully, encouraged more employers to consider the talent that many ex-offenders have to offer.”

Keynote speakers at the event, which took place in Birmingham, included Henrietta Brealey, director of policy and strategic relationships at Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, and Andrew Cleaves, director of Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.

Challenges

Victoria Blakeman, director of offender management and specialist services at Prospect, said: “From the West Midlands Combined Authority to the Chamber of Commerce, all are encouraging business to support local communities through the provision of opportunity and growth.

“The event gave an opportunity to find out how ex-offenders can provide a source of labour resource to meet the challenges of growth across the Midlands, supporting the social responsibility agenda.”

Prospects works with the National Careers Service in Custody and provides education in Feltham Young Offenders Institution in London.

West Midlands Mayor Andy Street has highlighted the region's skills shortage as one of its key challenges.

A report last year claimed that a lack of technical skills was holding back the West Midlands economy, with manufacturers across the region struggling to fill 11,800 technical roles – nearly half of them in the Black Country.

Official figures for the WMCA area showed 46,000 skills shortage vacancies – 30,000 of them for skilled trades jobs, 13,390 of which were in the Black Country.

"The skills shortages for skilled trades roles appear to be acting as a constraint on local business to expand as quickly as they would like," the report concluded.