Council is national finalist in partnership award
Warwickshire County Council’s pioneering work alongside partners to train prisoners to refurbish electrical appliances has clinched it a finalist place at a national awards ceremony.
Warwickshire takes on five other finalists in the Municipal Journal Local Government Achievement Awards 2007 in the ‘Innovating with the Third Sector Achievement of the Year’ category.
Warwickshire County Council has been shortlisted for Goods Again, a unique project tackling waste and poverty issues in the county while offering prisoners at HM Onley Prison the chance to learn new skills and gain a recognised qualification.
It is unique in its partnership between the county council, charities Coventry City Mission and Warwickshire Environmental Trust, and the Prison Service, operating across the county. The project takes discarded electrical goods out of the waste stream for reuse. It focuses only on electrical goods, white and brown, and provides a key service for poorer people unable to afford new electrical goods.
The award category has been sponsored by the Cabinet Office, and Ed Miliband, Minister for the Third Sector, said: “The third sector is helping to transform the landscape of our society and challenging both private and public sectors on a range of fronts from service delivery to campaigning for social justice… there are new challenges we face today which will call for the skills of the third sector and to deploy those talents to the full.”
The awards will be presented by political journalist Andrew Marr at an awards ceremony at the London Hilton on June 28.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “Just being shortlisted for a national award is great news for the local authority and a testament to the innovative work going on in the county.”