4th Sep 2015 14:13
LONDON (Alliance News) - G4S PLC on Friday said it has won an extension of the contract to manage a secure training centre for young offenders in Medway, Kent, though it said it is "disappointed" to lose the contract for Rainsbrook near Rugby in Northamptonshire.
The contract for Medway is worth GBP50 million over five years. The Youth Justice Board for England and Wales awarded the contract to G4S, which will operate the 76-bed centre for another five years.
G4S said it will fund an extension to Medway's vocational training centre to "strengthen education provision and provide the skills which will support some of the UK's most troubled young people into employment". G4S said it will partner with crime reduction charity Nacro to provide education to young offenders.
G4S has operated the centre since 1998. After losing Rainsbrook, the company will operate two of the three secure training centres for young offenders in England and Wales from next year. G4S has managed The Oakhill centre near Milton Keynes since 2004.
The current G4S contract to manage the third centre in the estate, Rainsbrook near Rugby in Northamptonshire, will be extended for five months until May 2016. G4S said it was not allowed to win both centres being re-tendered. The company said it agreed to extend the current arrangement to support the transition to new management.
Rainsbrook will move to new management at the end of the contract. In May, it was widely reported that the education watchdog found that the outsourcing company's management of the Rainsbrook secure training centre was "inadequate". An Ofsted report on the training centre said children were subjected to "degrading treatment, racist comments, and being cared for by staff who were under the influence of illegal drugs".
In July, G4S said that a new assessment of Rainsbrook by Martin Narey, a former chief executive of the Barnardo's children's charity, found that the Rainsbrook centre was not an unsafe place for children.
"It has been a very testing recent period for everyone at the centre and colleagues have risen to the challenge with commitment, care and professionalism. We will continue to show the same level of commitment through the transition to new management in order to minimise the disruption to young people, our colleagues and everyone connected to the centre," Paul Cook, managing director of G4S Children's Services, said in a statement.
G4S shares were down 2.5% at 242.20 pence on Friday afternoon in London.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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