Corrections Minister Louise Upston is impressed at the results being achieved by the Department’s Employer Partnerships initiatives and is looking forward to them continuing to make a positive difference to people’s lives.
“Finding steady employment for offenders when they leave prison is a critical step to helping these people turn their lives around. The work Corrections has been doing with offenders and potential employers in this area is very promising,” says Ms Upston.
“The decision to recruit eight Offender Recruitment Consultants nationwide has proved particularly successful. Since they began making placements in November, 482 offenders have successfully moved into employment.”
The Employer Partnerships initiatives are designed to support offenders into employment with opportunities provided both inside and outside prison.
Offenders can obtain qualifications through education and training courses offered whilst in prison and this provides them with the first step towards employment when they are released.
Corrections then works with potential employers to match prisoners with positions relevant to their experience and qualifications. So far 125 employers have signed MOUs (Memorandums of Understanding) with the Department.
“We have hosted three successful Employer’s breakfasts already this year in Hamilton, Christchurch and Wellington. The feedback from employers has been positive and has enabled us to engage, and build relationships, with employers, informing them of the opportunities available by working with Corrections.”
“There is a natural hesitancy for employers to take on offenders but the work that is being undertaken by Corrections is helping to break down those perceptions and is delivering work ready employees,” says Ms Upston.
Corrections is developing an enhanced strategy to build on the early success of the programme. This includes both a national and regional focus and an initiative to encourage current partners to bring a ‘friend’ to future events to understand the work being done by Corrections in industry, education and training.
| A Beehive release || July 27, 2017 |||
A nationwide study into design’s economic contribution to New Zealand’s economy was released today. The ground-breaking research shows that during the last year alone design contributed $10.1b to New Zealand’s GDP (approximately 4.2 per cent).
The results of the Value of Design report, which was started in 2013, launched today in Wellington by Hon. Steven Joyce Minister of Finance.
The study was undertaken by PwC and commissioned by a national design consortium DesignCo, which comprises Massey University’s College of Creative Arts, the Designers Institute of New Zealand, Otago Polytechnic School of Design, NZTE (Better By Design programme), AUT School of Art and Design, the Auckland Co-design Lab, Callaghan Innovation and Victoria’s University’s School of Design.
Professor Claire Robinson, convenor of DesignCo, said at the launch of the research today: “There is a strong correlation between national prosperity, economic growth and a thriving design sector. International evidence confirms that design leads to more competitive firms making and selling higher value products and services.
“The research reveals that if design were treated as an individual industry its contribution to the New Zealand economy would be larger than agriculture and on a par with retail trade ($10.6b), and food, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing. The sector also provides approximately 94,200 FTE design positions in New Zealand, roughly 4.4 per cent of employment,” Professor Robinson said.
The study indicates a broadening use of design as an effective process – in exporting firms, technology, health, conservation, the public sector and within cities.
Ludo Campbell-Reid, general manager of the Auckland Design Office and Design Champion for Auckland said: “There is a global movement that is centred on cities that are transforming themselves through people centred urban design. Think Melbourne, Vancouver, London, Barcelona, Bilbao, Portland, Seattle, Helsinki and Copenhagen. Each of these cities has pursued a deliberate programme of economic revitalisation and urban renewal based around design led thinking. Great design is all about the value add: good for the environment, good for business, good for attracting talent and critical for social cohesiveness”.
Continue to read the full article in ArchitectureNow here
More than 90% of Britons want supermarkets to introduce an aisle free of plastic packaging in stores.Plastic free aisle
Environmental campaign group A Plastic Planet commissioned a Populus survey of 2,000 UK adults.
Respondents were asked if they support or oppose the introduction of a supermarket aisle that features only products that are free of plastic packaging,
with 91% saying they supported it.
Additionally, 81% of those surveyed said that they were concerned ‘about the amount of plastic packaging that is thrown away in the UK’.
Support for a supermarket aisle featuring only goods not wrapped in plastic packaging was highest in the North East, where 96% of survey respondents backed the move.
The survey revealed that women are slightly more likely to support the introduction of Plastic Free Aisles than men (92% compared to 91%), while people aged 65 or over are more likely to advocate the measure than any other age group (94% compared to 89% of 25-34 year-olds).
Results from opinion polls and surveys can sometimes appear convenient, but the British Polling Council has said that results can often be attributed the time a poll was conducted, the “order effect” of how questions are asked, and the “mode effect” where respondents (consciously or sub-consciously) give different answers depending on whether they are asked questions in person by an interviewer, or impersonally in self-completion surveys sent by post or email/Internet.
Sian Sutherland, A Plastic Planet co-founder, said it was clear the public wanted an alternative to goods laden with plastic packaging.
“Too much of our plastic waste ends up in oceans and landfill. Consumer demand for products that generate less plastic waste is higher than ever. A plastic free aisle would help supermarkets meet the needs of shoppers who are fed up of buying products covered with layer after layer of throwaway plastic.
“For years we’ve able to buy gluten-free, dairy-free, and fat-free, so why no plastic free?”
Professor Hilary Kennedy of Bangor University’s School of Ocean Sciences added: “There is a growing body of evidence that plastic waste poses a global challenge, directly affecting marine life and ecosystems.
“A plastic free aisle in supermarkets would help encourage a reduction in the amount of plastic waste being dumped in our environment.”
| A packaging News release || July 26, 2017 |||
Palace of the Alhambra, Spain
By: Charles Nathaniel Worsley (1862-1923)
From the collection of Sir Heaton Rhodes
Oil on canvas - 118cm x 162cm
Valued $12,000 - $18,000
Offers invited over $9,000
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242
Mount Egmont with Lake
By: John Philemon Backhouse (1845-1908)
Oil on Sea Shell - 13cm x 14cm
Valued $2,000-$3,000
Offers invited over $1,500
Contact: Henry Newrick – (+64 ) 27 471 2242