News Archive

The importance of recruiting from socially excluded groups

Dr Martin Blake Head of Social Responsibility, Royal Mail Group plc

Royal Mail actively recruits from socially excluded groups, including people with learning difficulties. “This not only benefits new recruits,” says Blake, “but it also improves business practice.”
Having conducted several successful pilot schemes, Royal Mail – the UK’s largest single employer with 193,000 employees – now plans to make the recruitment scheme an ntegral part of the company’s future.

Blake says: “For us social responsibility is not about PR or spin; it’s about sustainable business. Everyone has to benefit. It has to be good for the workplace, employees, business and the brand. If you’ve got that in place, it’s going to last.
We are looking to challenge traditional recruitment practices. Recruiting from socially excluded groups leads to a more diverse and
socially inclusive workplace, increased employee loyalty, increased customer satisfaction and lifts people with disabilities away from sole reliance on benefits system.”

To ensure new recruits were able to fulfil their potential, Royal Mail increased investment in the induction process and
allowed people more time to settle in their new role. The results, says Blake, were overwhelmingly positive.

“We are now looking at integrating this into business as usual. We know it works. We’ve seen the benefits it has for employees,
customers and the business. Now it needs to be in the mainstream of our recruiting policy.”

Dr Martin Blake
Royal Mail Group plc
Unit 6 Ancells Court
Rye Close
Fleet GU51 2UY
Tel: 01252 773011
martin.blake@royalmail.com

Movie Thanks Mindroom

While Jude Law enjoys good reviews for his role in Anthony Minghella's latest film Breaking and Entering,

Mindroom is also celebrating its role in the movie success.

Mindroom provided inspiration for one aspect of the film, and founder Sophie Dow and her colleague Dr Christopher Gillberg appear on the credits as advisers. Dow is a Swede whose teenage daughter Annie has learning difficulties - Breaking and Entering stars a Swedish mother and her daughter who is struggling with being somewhat different.

Dow admits that Anthony Minghella, a former London neighbour, sent her an early script for comment and that she and Gillberg, Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, helped develop the character of Bea, a child on the autistic spectrum. They also advised on the thoughts and emotions of being a mother of a child with learning difficulties.

"It's a multi-facetted film that deals with several fundamental issues such as the toll that learning difficulties take on family life and marriage, but also adultery, immigration, crime and the importance of giving people a second chance. It's an excellent and very thoughtprovoking film," enthuses Dow.

Breaking and Entering stars Jude Law, with Robin Wright Penn as his partner and Juliette Binoche as his mistress.

Fish oil good for the brain

The Durham Trial, is the largest trial ever looking at how fatty acids may benefit certain learning conditions, specifically dyspraxia, dyslexia and ADHD. More than 120 children took part in the trial, which involved 12 schools in the northeastern county. The double blind randomised trial was run by the Durham Local Education Authority, which conducted more than 12, 000 assessments throughout the six month duration.
The design was a very simple one: for the first three months half the participants were put on either active fatty acids (eye q, supplied by Equazen,UK Ltd), or a placebo (olive oil). At three months, the placebo group were then switched over to active. Preliminary findings have indicated that the trial showed significant benefits for some 40 % of the children that took part, and it is hoped that the trial will yield new insights into how nutrition is linked to behaviour.

Fish Oil in Exam Test

Education chiefs in County Durham, England, have launched a trial they believe could improve GCSE pass levels.
All Year 11 pupils at Durham County Council’s 36 comprehensive schools are being offered omega-3 fish oil supplements to see whether
they can boost exam performances. It is hoped some 5,000 Year 11 pupils will take eye qTM, a supplement being offered free of charge
by manufacturer Equazen.
The initiative – the largest-ever programme using fatty acids in the classroom – is the brainchild of Dave Ford, the council’s Chief Schools
Inspector, who has followed the progress of children involved in earlier studies in the county with the omega-3 fish oil supplement. He is convinced that the same improvements in concentration and learning, if applied to Year 11 pupils, could
have a direct impact on their GCSE results. The county-wide strategy will continue until the pupils complete GCSE examinations in June, but the
first results may be seen when they sit their ‘mock’ exams in December.
The plan has won the backing of Councillor Claire Vasey, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services.

She says: “We have been leading the way in researching the effects of omega-3 supplementation on children’s behaviour and learning. If we
can improve the concentration of some of our children with this initiative, then they will benefit even more from the opportunities presented to them in our schools.”

For more information please either visit http://www.durhamtrial.org/ or http://www.equazen.com/

Inverclyde Moves Forward

Professionals from several agencies in Inverclyde, Scotland, have formed a group to explore the issues raised at Mindroom’s recent conference
The Social Brain 2: See the Bigger Picture.
Organisers of a new group, who attended the conference in Glasgow, say: “Following the conference an interest group in Inverclyde was set up, to discuss matters raised at the conference and the feasibility of taking any of these forward in terms of service delivery in our local area.
“We would be interested to hear from colleagues in any other local authority areas, who also attended this wonderful and inspiring conference, and who, like us, would like to further explore issues raised.”
Please contact Inverclyde Bigger Picture Group on 01475 714713 or 01475 714726.