COMMENDEE 2023-24: Barclay is Commended for his work, as First Line Manager for vocational training, to enhance the range of courses on offer at HMP/YOI Polmont, motivate and support the women and young people to take part, and improve access for those with neurodiversity and other special educational needs.

Barclay’s nomination

Initial Recommendation

Barclay was initially recommended by: Susan MacKechnie (Unit Manager, HMP & YOI Polmont).

I would like to nominate Barclay due to the exemplary efforts he continues to make to ensure that both young people and women are afforded opportunities to improve their life chances upon release from HMP & YOI Polmont.

Barclay joined the Scottish Prison Service in 2013 where he initially worked within the VT Joiners. On promotion to First Line Manager he became responsible for all Vocational Training. This includes Brick Laying, Plumbers, Engineers, Painting, Joiners, Industrial Cleaners, Welding, Hairdressers, Barbers, and Fork Lift where individuals achieve Nationally Recognised Vocational certification.

Barclay leads his team to achieve the highest level of support to young people and women. He recognises where education has failed those who are the hardest to reach, who are not academic, who have not been blessed with the best of life chances, who ultimately end up in custody. He is passionate about ensuring that his team and the wider establishment and partnerships work with those individuals to engage and encourage them.

Barclay is responsible for the Activities Allocation Board where he assesses who has accessed education. As part of this process, he recognised that a number of individuals have a number of identified neuro-diversity issues. He reviewed the core day putting in place session timings and class sizes which were more trauma informed to allow equity of access. This approach has been hugely successful and has allowed individuals a more bespoke and therapeutic engagement with education and training through our inclusion officers and instructors.

Barclay has established partnerships which support the Access to Industry. This has expanded the training delivery extensively, providing support and links with a number of industry partners and employers who can offer tangible, realistic work opportunities for those who leave custody. As part of this partnership Barclay has secured money through Cash Back Scotland which helps fund training including CSCS, REHIS, Springboard Hospitality, PASMA and Tigers training. CITIB invigilators attend to conduct assessments.

He remains fully committed to ensuring that Polmont is aligned to outside industries and job market opportunities. He does this through the extensive network of stakeholders across the country. The most recent area that he has explored is hospitality. This year, Barclay secured funding for two barista machines to be bought for the life skills areas. This includes a package for staff to be fully trained in advanced barista skills where they can then train individuals to an SVQ level. Through his own research, he was able to recognise the job opportunities within hospitality.

The United Nations general assembly declared 15th July as ‘World Youth Skills Day’. Last year’s theme was ‘Transforming Youth Skills for the Future’. Polmont marked this important day by holding an employability event for those in our care with key internal and external stakeholders, including representatives from Verdancy Group, Tigers, Springboard, the Celtic Foundation, the Rangers Foundation, Anna Walls Consultancy, Fife College and Barnardo’s. Barclay led on this event and was pivotal to its success in helping to secure learning and employment opportunities for those in our care in the future.

Testimonials (from HMP & YOI Polmont)

Barclay’s nomination included the following testimonials:

From Adele Hill, CEO of Access to Industry, key strategic partner in HMP & YOI Polmont:

“Barclay has been our main partner link as FLM within Employability since 2018. Over this time the relationship between Access to Industry (AI) and SPS has grown from strength to strength.

During our phase 5 CashBack Polmont project, which was challenging due to constraints out with anyone’s control – Covid – Barclay was determined that young people would be engaged in the most meaningful activity. We thought creatively on how to engage the young people and ensure they were prepared for employment post-liberation.

When it was safe to engage back into group work, Barclay worked with us to identify growth areas of employment for the young people and the gaps within hospitality and construction. He worked across the establishment with different FLMs to work together for the benefit of the young people. He engaged well with life skills, identifying areas of need and development and outlined the best approach for employment opportunities.

As AI had an underspend in our budget, we were able to engage with CashBack funders to propose a change in funding that would allow for capital to be used to increase the skillset of the young people. We were able to source Barista coffee machines and Barclay identified staff who could be trained as Barista trainers to deliver the SQA Level 5 Barista training to the population of Polmont. This involved working with other managers to agree to staff being released for training and engaging with AI staff, and SPS employability staff who identified young people who were interested and ready for the training.

Throughout everything Barclay does, his communication, research and meticulous planning enables young people to experience, grow and achieve positive progressions whilst in custody. Barclay is able to see the bigger picture and the need to work in partnership, not in silo, to ensure the best outcomes for the young people.

By his pro-active and positive nature, he has been able to deliver exceptional qualifications and skills-based accredited learning, which has enabled young people to develop confidence and self-belief. AI provide employability support on the inside and continue the support on the outside, and the young people always make sure their workers are feeding back to SPS regarding how well they are doing, as they are grateful for the opportunities and belief that people show in them.”

From Craig Duncan, Officer Instructor:

“I received a call from JM who wanted to thank activities staff for the opportunities provided that allowed him to gain a range of different qualifications whilst at Polmont. He was granted parole in April and has been working on building sites in London since then, which would not have been possible without the training courses which the activities staff provided. He wanted to thank, in particular, FLM Barclay Tierney, for the support he provided to help him gain his qualifications. J states that without these qualifications he may not have found work so easily and having his CSCS card and H&S was a massive help”.

From employment officer Allan Rankin:

“I have had a phone call from RG’s social worker to pass on a message from him wishing to thank everyone in Polmont for their support and chance to gain qualifications which enabled him to get a job. R especially wanted to thank the support he got from the FLM Barclay Tierney who, along with the activity workshops instructors, encouraged and gave R the opportunities whilst in Polmont. R has been in full time employment for the last four months since his release from Polmont. This is the longest he has held a job in his life, and he believes that this was down to the support that he received whilst working in activities. If the opportunity and support had not been in place for him, he admits he would have returned to his old ways and would be back in prison”.

Sign off

The nomination was signed off by the Deputy Governor, Tony Martin.

I joined the HMP & YOI Polmont team in December 2021. At this point in time the Offender Outcomes function was still very much in the recovery stage with very limited activity other than essential services. As the months progressed and the journey towards ‘normality’ gained momentum, it provided problematic to motivate our population to return to a more purposeful regime.

However, I can confirm that Barclay worked tirelessly to motivate and support the young people and women in our care to firstly attend the various purposeful activity on offer and secondly to motivate them to pursue qualifications that would support a positive return to our communities.

As documented in Ms MacKechnie’s submission, Barclay is the driver for the training and qualification side of the establishment’s work and his personal efforts have ensured that a high number of young people and women in our care have progressed or left custody with valuable qualifications. These qualifications provide them with a realistic opportunity to enter the job market.

In addition to this, Barclay’s motivation to progress the Offender Outcome function and the wider establishment is apparent in everything he does and he has made invaluable contacts with a number of agencies and initiatives within the community that have supported this in our care. I feel Barclay displays all the positive behaviours and skills that make him a candidate for recognition.