Olympics Security - Home Affairs Committee Contents



WRITTEN EVIDENCE SUBMITTED BY MAGGIE GALLIERS CBE, PRINCIPAL OF LEICESTER COLLEGE [OS 04]

The Bridging the Gap programme has trained 6,374 young people to fully accredited door supervisor standard over a two year period specifically for the 2012 Olympics.

All of these young people completed a four day door supervision training programme and gained the recognised door supervisor qualification. They completed most of their training at the weekend or in their own personal time.

Security firms rely on students to fill transient work opportunities throughout the year. Many have already successfully completed working at a number of key sporting and arts events.

A number of students have also worked for G4S at the Test events in May. G4S have asserted that the students were of a high calibre and Carried out their tasks to the best of their ability.

The recent criticism of young people in a few newspapers is in sharp contrast to earlier articles published by the same newspapers in May where portrayed a positive profile of young people eager to play a part in delivering a safe and secure Olympics.

The British security Industry Association BSIA viewed the Bridging the Gap programme as one of the top initiatives developed with the industry and it was the SIA who asked colleges to develop the programme to avoid a shortage of qualified personnel at the Olympics. They have publicly praised the programme in many forums for getting thousands of students qualified and available for employment at the Games. Plans are already in place to build on a legacy creating employment opportunities with the wider security industry post Olympics.

The LOCOG venue and security board praised Bridging the Gap's contribution to London 2012 and confirmed it had met and exceeded their target of 3,300 students qualified and available for G4S deployment at the Olympics. Students have only encountered major problems during the G4S processing stage which includes the last elements of screening, vetting and role specific training.

All of the young people are 18 years of age and have planned their summer around employment at the Olympics. In addition to the four days completing the door supervision qualification, they have attended G4S interviews and have been undertaking additional security training whilst awaiting screening and vetting outcomes.

Until recent press reports about an inadequate interview process, colleges have generally found that students had a thorough interview process by G4S to select them for employment.

<?oasys [pf10p0] ?>G4S are committed to hiring these qualified students as part of their contractual arrangements with LOCOG. They have however, failed to put in place the management and communication resources to get these enthusiastic and motivated students through the last elements of the recruitment process. Despite this, we still support our students and G4S and will continue to do so as long as there is a chance that the promise of employment opportunities made to students can be delivered.

The students are drawn from 90 UK colleges who have encouraged these young people to give up their own time to qualify for employment at the event of a lifetime. The Principals of these colleges are frustrated by the continued delay in communications and in getting students into the work place.

Fortunately the qualification and experience of working in other venues is giving students employability skills and part time earnings. Whilst the experience cannot be deemed a complete waste, it will certainly leave a negative impression should these young people fail to be employed at the Games, especially given that there is a shortage of personnel with the requisite qualifications these young people have already gained.

We urge G4S to immediately apply all of their resources to ensure that as many qualified students as possible are deployed into safe and rewarding employment at the Olympic Games.

July 2012

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Prepared 25 October 2012