2 November 2006

Prison Service offices officially opened at Celtic Springs Business Park

HM Prison Service’s new state of the art offices at Celtic Springs Business Park, Newport were officially opened yesterday (1 November) by Sir Peter Gershon CBE.   

The Right Worshipful, The Mayor of Newport spoke at the ceremony to formally welcome HMPS to Newport. 

The new premises are home to HMPS’s new shared service centre which will provide HR, Finance and Procurement support to all the Service’s prison establishments and other sites across England and Wales. 

It will undertake activities such as the processing of invoices, paying expenses and handling HR queries for 48,000 employees.

Up to 500 jobs will be created, a mix of new recruits and existing Prison Service people moving from other sites. 

Celtic Springs Business Park, Newport, was chosen for the new office after  thorough evaluation process.  It beat off competition from other major centres such as Birmingham and Peterborough. 

Factors in its favour included the support of the local inward investment agencies and the availability of a high calibre workforce with an enthusiasm for public sector work. 

The centre actually became operational in May this year and approximately 250 people are already working there.

The establishment of the shared service centre and the IT software system that supports it – ORACLE – represent an investment of £150m and is set to deliver savings in the order of £30million a year once fully up and running.

Speaking at the ceremony, Ann Beasley, Prison Service Finance Director said:  “On arriving at the Prison Service, I realised very quickly that we couldn’t carry on as we were, effectively trying to deliver the same service with less money – we had to radically change the way we did things.

“At the same time, Sir Peter Gershon had been asked by Government to carry out a review of efficiency in the public sector and one of his conclusions was in tune with our own – bringing together support services into one operation to improve service and save money.  The result is our new shared service centre here at Celtic Springs.”

Steve Hodgson, Head of the Newport-based Shared Services,  paid tribute to the calibre of people that had been recruited:  “We have been delighted with the calibre of people that we have been able to recruit – we really do have a world class team.”

Speaking after the event, John Burrows, chief executive of urban regeneration company, Newport Unlimited, said: “The official opening of the new HM Prison Service building is a significant milestone in the city’s regeneration.

“Added to the 600 new jobs that will be created when the Office for National Statistics relocates its London office to Newport, it represents a significant boost for Newport’s economy and another step towards our achieving our target of creating 5,000 new jobs within the next five years.  It also illustrates the confidence in the city by a major employer.”

Iain Logue, Operations Director, AGW Property Ltd. which is developing the business park jointly with Broadhall, said: “We are delighted to be able to officially welcome the HM Prison Service to Phoenix House at Celtic Springs Business Park.

“The £100m business park has consistently proved to major employers that it is able to provide top quality office accommodation to the highest specifications. It is our stated aim to create a business park which is among the most prestigious in the UK serving both national and local businesses.

“Securing HMPS for the flagship building on the business park was not only a coup for us, the developers, but also for the city of Newport which is benefiting from the 500 top quality jobs being created at this first class facility.”