Date: 20 March 2009
The South West Award winning Warbarth project
was recently invited by the Howard League of Penal Reform to
present at a prestigious round table event, in the House of Lords.
At the launch of their new “Community Programmes Handbook” where
many senior politicians were there to hear of its success in
helping ex-offenders build new lives.
The round table parliamentary event was hosted
by Baroness Linklater, and attended by many MP’s including Edward
Garnier, Shadow Minister for Justice, Chris Huhne, Liberal Democrat
shadow Home Secretary and was addressed by the Minister for State
the Rt. Hon David Hanson MP.
The Warbarth project was chosen after
receiving acclaim by the Howard League for Penal Reform in 2007.
The project, a partnership between Working Links and the Devon and
Cornwall Probation service, provides an effective programme for
unemployed offenders from the community or on release from the
prison.
Warbarth (meaning togetherness in Cornish)
brings together two different sets of expertise. The
programme which was funded through ESF Objective One ran from June
2006 to May 2008 helped over 600 ex-offenders build new
lives, 162 of whom have started work. This is over twice the
initial target for the scheme.
Working Links representatives at the event
included Mike Cherry, Operations Manager for the South West of
England and Zena Gardener (Performance Manager). Commenting on
the event Mike Cherry said “We are passionate about helping people
overcoming their barriers and helping them back into the workplace.
We welcome the support and the genuine interest from the Howard
League for Penal Reform and Parliament in our project here in the
South West.” It was disappointing that the programme did not
receive any additional funding to continue this specialist
work.