Evaluation of Business in Prison
- Date: December 1998 - February 1999
- Client: North Nottinghamshire Training & Enterprise Council
EMOEC (which was comprised of the seven Training & Enterprise Councils (TECs) of the East Midlands, Probation Services, HM Prison Service, Employment Service, Government Office for the East Midlands, Princes Youth Business Trust, Business in the Community and APEX Leicester Project) managed and delivered this European Social Fund (ESF) supported project and North Nottinghamshire TEC acted as principal partner and ESF co-ordinator. The project's aim was to facilitate the reintegration of offenders into the labour market to reduce crime through a series of employment measures. It had two strands of activity:
Raising awareness, among staff and inmates, of self-employment opportunities, assisting offenders whilst in custody to prepare for self employment, and providing support to those setting up their own business on release.
Generating employment opportunities for offenders whilst in prison by providing labour market awareness sessions, helping inmates acquire relevant labour market skills through their work in prison industries, and generating additional commercial opportunities for prison industries.
The evaluation involved the following:
Consideration of output data.
Analysis of evaluation sheets completed by employers attending a Business in Prison conference.
Qualitative consultations with 19 individuals involved in the management and delivery of the project.