28th Jul 2015 11:57
LONDON (Alliance News) - FTSE 100-listed outsourcer G4S PLC on Tuesday said a new assessment of the Rainsbrook Secure Training Centre for young offenders, which the company runs, found it is not an unsafe place for children, following from the report published by UK schools inspector Ofsted two months ago which found the performance of the centre was inadequate.
G4S said that the report from Martin Narey, the former chief executive of the Barnardo's children's charity, disputed Ofsted's findings, saying he did not agree with Ofsted's assessment that the centre is inadequate.
"That is not to suggest that the Inspectorate's recommendations for improvement should not be accepted. They are uncontroversial, and I take very little issue with them. But I don't believe the inadequacies those improvements address mean that Rainsbrook is, or was in February, an unsafe place for children," Narey said.
G4S commissioned the report by Narey following the publication of Ofsted's report in May and said it will now submit the report to the Youth Justice Board in the UK.
Back in May, an Ofsted-led team gave the Rainsbrook unit an "inadequate" rating, saying that staff at the institution were under the influence of drugs. The inspectors said: "Poor staff behaviour has led to some young people being subject to degrading treatment, racist comments, and being cared for by staff who were under the influence of illegal drugs."
G4S said at the time that what happened at the centre was "completely unacceptable" but claimed it took action to remedy the issues at the time.
G4S shares were up 0.5% to 268.80 pence on Tuesday.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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