The mentoring team who are part of the HMPPS (formerly NOMS) CFO3 project are celebrating being awarded the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) Approved Provider Standard (APS) for their work, the national quality standard for mentoring and befriending projects.
The project provides a mentoring service in prisons across the North East of England, supporting those that are most in need of help by enabling them to overcome any issues that they face.
To achieve Approved Provider Standard projects must meet 10 requirements across four key areas supporting safe and effective practice in mentoring and befriending.
The four key areas are:
- Management and operation
- Service users (mentees and befriendees)
- Mentors and befrienders
- The mentoring and befriending relationship
After working hard to ensure the project met all the criteria using the APS self-assessment tool, the team were visited by a trained assessor to check that they met all the necessary requirements.
The assessor met with a range of people including the project coordinator, its mentors and some service users (mentees), also reviewing documents and processes used throughout the project.
The team were extremely pleased to receive a certificate in May from Sir Stuart Etherington, Chief Executive of NCVO, confirming their application for the award had been successful.
Comments from the assessor included:
“the service provides a supportive and effective approach to addressing the needs of a particularly challenging customer group”
“service users were clear about the nature and value of the mentoring service, and were keen to share their positive experiences”
This now means that the project can highlight their APS status by displaying the NCVO quality mark on publicity materials until its renewal date in May 2020.
Service Coordinator, Rob Stone, said: “I’m really proud that all of the hard work we put into this project has been formally recognised by achieving the Approved Provider Standard. Well done to all involved.”
You can find out more about the project by clicking here
The Wise Group deliver HMPPS CFO3 on behalf of APM. The project is part funded by the European Social Fund.
