Jails compete for cleaning excellence
February 23rd 2009

Asset Skills Scotland is now gearing up for the next round of the Team Clean Challenge. A prison strand has been added to the competition which will see jails from Scotland compete against each other to take top honours in cleaning excellence. It is hoped the roll out to prisons will help highlight the excellent training available to offenders while they serve their sentences.

The competition is an initiative from Asset Skills, the Sector Skills Council for the cleaning industry, and has gained support from the Scottish Prison Service, the Scottish Government and the British Institute of Cleaning Science (BICSc). It is hoped it will show prisoners that cleaning can be a viable and worthwhile job to consider for the future, and flag to employers the quality training on offer within prisons for potential future workers.

The Scottish Team Clean Challenge covers the following categories: best manager, best supervisor, best operative and best prison. The judges will also be looking for social skills, including teamwork and project management when deciding the winners.

The purpose of the challenge is to:

• Highlight the high standard of cleaning training delivered in prisons

• Provide an opportunity for participants to build confidence and demonstrate a range of skills to secure employment following release

• Showcase these skills to potential employers

The competition takes place in the first week of March and Asset Skills is being backed by the Glasgow Employers’ Coalition in seeking support from employers who wish to engage ex-offenders at the end of their sentences in industrial cleaning role

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