Prisoners on building sites 'degrading'

A 'hair brained' scheme to put Scottish inmates to work on understaffed building sites has been labelled 'degrading' to the industry.

The Federation of Master Builders (FMB) has hit out at the proposal by Scottish justice secretary Kenny MacAskill who suggested inmates be used to plug vacancies in the industry.

Mr MacAskill said it was 'ridiculous' that there are 1,500 prisoners locked up in Glasgow’s Barlinnie jail when workers are needed on major projects including the Commonwealth Games.

He said: “We need them out doing some hard work to make Glasgow a better place.”

FMB Scotland’s director Grahame Barn said more apprenticeships were the answer to the skills shortage – not unskilled criminals.

“Mr MacAskill’s suggestion that convicts should be sent to work in the construction sector degrades the industry and adds nothing helpful to the debate on how to tackle the skills shortage,” he said.

“Government should be looking at ways to encourage more firms to take on apprentices, such as through the procurement process and funding, not coming up with hair brained ideas about untrained offenders.”