Page 35 - SyI Quarterly 7

The inaugural programme
took place in February
2021, when 27 young
people participated in an
employability skills week.
This week was designed
to highlight the variety of
different areas within the
security sector, which was
brought to life, thanks to
security professionals,
including Kate Bright and
Ashley Fernandes from the
Worshipful Company of
Security Professionals, who
volunteered to participate, with sessions on leadership, Other sponsors included, CIS Security, The City of
self-reflection, communication skills and teamwork. London Crime Prevention Association, ICTS, Nineteen
Group, SASIG, The Walt Disney Company, Ward
The interactions Kate and Ashley were able to provide Security, Wilson James, The Security Institute and the
really delivered; enabling young participants to identify Worshipful Company of Security Professionals.
with their personal journeys and understand the
variety of potential careers in the security sector. We are making significant noise across the sector,
about the course with talking heads from security
The age of the course participants is 16/17, studying professionals, support from our colleagues – all of
towards A-levels/BTEC, with 16 female and 11 male whom have embraced this project with energy and
and we are highly likely to exceed 90% representation openness, a Linkedin page to follow and our course
from across BAME communities. participants taking part in conference calls, webinars
and other activities.
The collective ambition is for this programme to have
a long-term impact on both the young people and the Lastly, the Security Institute has announced a specific
sector, by underlying how we can improve the image annual award for the Next Gen Star will be dedicated
of security or its associated professions, as careers of Martyn Hett. Martyn is the son of Figen Murray and he
choice. was killed in the Manchester Arena attack. Since then
Figen has been proactive in calling for a Protect Duty –
The first week of the course was virtual, because of the also known as Martyn’s Law. She has fully endorsed
pandemic and so it was for work experience in week this programme and is proud the award is in her son’s
two during April. We delved into the various security name.
disciplines of physical, cyber and personnel security,
but demonstrating how they are converging disciplines. I think readers would agree that Secure Futures has
the potential to be a key strategic feature, future-
A 10-month professional mentoring programme is proofing inclusivity for the security sector, ensuring
now underway, where security volunteers have offered that talented young people are given opportunities to
to support our efforts and further develop the skills develop employability skills and choose security as a
of our cohort. In addition, all 27 participants will be valuable a career of choice.
given FREE membership of the Security Institute for a
year and will be invited to participate in young people The proof, of course, will be in the delivery and how
advisory boards for the security sector. these young people are inspired, but I absolutely
believe we could easily see some of them develop
Planning of the Secure Futures programme pre-dates careers in our sector.
the current pandemic, but we believe it is now more
important than ever for this opportunity to be available Want to get involved?
to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and
as a result we are proceeding with the online delivery After such a successful inaugural programme, planning
of this our first programme. has started for the 2022 programme.

The Security Industry Authority (SIA) serves as the If you interested in , please contact
principal funder, investing money awarded to them [email protected] or
from successful proceeds of crime applications, into [email protected]
this programme. True re-engineering of criminal
activity.

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