Council wins national partnership award
Warwickshire County Council’s pioneering work alongside partners to train prisoners to refurbish electrical appliances has clinched a national award.
Warwickshire came out tops over five other finalists last night at the Municipal Journal Local Government Achievement Awards 2007 in the ‘Innovating with the Third Sector Achievement of the Year’ category.
Warwickshire County Council won 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 Big Lottery Fund’s Community Recycling and Economic Development (CRED) Programme, Biffaward and Her Majesty’s Prison Service fund the project.
Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Portfolio Holder for the Environment, said: “Partnerships are an increasingly important part of the work of local authorities and I’m delighted to see that we are leading the way here nationally with innovations such as Goods Again where we have engaged well with the community and voluntary sectors. My congratulations go to all those involved.”
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.”
Warwickshire County Council picked up the award from political journalist Andrew Marr at an awards ceremony at the London Hilton last night.