Doyle said that courses such as that delivered by the SRA as part of The Clink Charity’s prisoner training programme, which contributes towards inmates earning a CPD certificate in sustainability, are most valuable when they are hands-on.
“We want to give them the knowledge and skills to start implementing the practice into their roles right away. It can start with small things like watching energy usage and using water saving best practices,” she said.
The Clink Charity’s training programmes give prisoners experience of employment in a restaurant or events catering while working towards City & Guilds NVQs in hospitality or catering and customer service. The Clink Gardens at HMP Send, Surrey provide the opportunity to gain practical experience and NVQs in horticulture.
The charity has four restaurants where members of the public can dine. These are located in Brixton, Cardiff, HMP High Down in Surrey and Styal near Manchester. The SRA sustainability programme has only been launched at the Brixton restaurant so far, with plans to roll this out to all sites.
Doyle explained that the sustainability course covers three main areas: society, the environment and sourcing. “That’s anything from where they source their meat to how they treat their staff, down to where they get their energy from,” she said.
The SRA delivered the training in person to prisoners in front of house, kitchen and cleaning roles. Usually it would be delivered online but this was not possible because of limited internet access in prisons.
Doyle said: “Everybody on the programme was new to hospitality and new to sustainability so we didn’t really know how they’d react, but everyone was very positive. It will be really valuable in the future when they start looking for work.”
Chief executive of The Clink Charity Chris Moore said: “We’ve always put sustainability at the heart of everything we do at The Clink Charity and the SRA has been with us every step of the way. Its new sustainability training programme will help take this to the next level and provide our graduates with another hugely important skill for when they go out into the workplace.”
