Perhaps the most interesting appointment of the new UK government was that of James Timpson, who was elevated to the House of Lords to be the new Prisons, Parole and Probation Minister.
Timpson runs the family business which has over 2000 outlets in most UK towns and cities, under various brands, offering services such as key cutting, watch batteries and repairs, and dry cleaning. The Timpson family have always had a strong social conscience. James’ parents fostered 90 children and adopted two alongside their won three, and the firm is noted for employing ex=offenders and prisoners.
James Timpson has been Chair of the Prison Reform Trust since 2016, an organisation which aims to make sentencing and prison more effective particularly in terms of reducing re-offending rates. He founded the Employment Advisory Board network, which links prisons with employers to improve the employment opportunities for ex-offenders upon release.
So this is a case of a Minister being appointed who both knows his brief inside out and presumably has some clear ideas of what he wants to achieve. That certainly wasn’t something we have seen in recent years with the ministerial musical chairs approach of the Conservative government. There was also the disastrous re-organisation of the probation service which made it into my Bad Buying book.
Timpson arrives at a crisis point for British prisons. They are overflowing with occupation levels higher than the Victorians would have considered reasonable. There will be early release schemes, which Labour is blaming not unreasonably on the failure of the last government to manage the situation, either through building more capacity or changing sentencing policy.
Timpson has found recruits from the offender population are actually good news for the business. They are loyal, work hard, and want to improve themselves. He only recruits men over 24 years old, although women over 19 are welcomed. Younger men don’t appear ready to “settle down”, he says.
Already, he is suggesting that other firms might take his lead and look to recruit more ex-offenders. And this isn’t a new idea. I included this in the Procurement with Purpose book as one of a whole range of initiatives that fall under the “social” side of ESG. We might argue it has an “economic” impact too – it costs huge amounts of money to incarcerate people so it helps the economy and the taxpayer burden to reduce re-offending.
It is also one of the many options included in “social value” models used by the UK public sector when it comes to using public procurement to drive social value. So it is likely that this is going to see more focus in terms of public sector organisations either recruiting these people directly, or looking to persuade suppliers to do the same.
That could be done by persuasion, or we could see this as one of the factors that actually kicks into evaluation of bids and tenders, with suppliers rewarded for promises to employ more of these individuals. Or it could even be made mandatory in some way, although that might require new legislation?
It is all very admirable, and I wish Timpson success in his role. I have a friend who acts as a Humanist prison visitor – the equivalent of a chaplain for the non-religious. The stories I have heard suggest prison reform is urgent and can be a win–win for everyone. But the issue for procurement of course is that it is only one of so many “purpose-related” or social value issues that Procurement professionals are now asked to consider.
Persuading suppliers to reduce emissions and act to help biodiversity; human rights issues in the supply chain; promotion of diversity objectives; supporting disadvantaged groups – they are all worthy causes. Even staying close to the agenda of persuading suppliers to use employment for positive ends, there are related issues of disability employment and that of care leavers – kids who come out of the care system often struggle and indeed a ridiculous percentage end up in prison.
So buying organisations will have to consider carefully exactly where they want to focus, and Timpson may face “competition” from other Ministers who see their agenda as also something public procurement can support. And suppliers will also need to prioritise and work out which initiatives provide their own business with the most positive benefits.