A Blaenau Gwent-based pharmaceutical company which has taken an industry lead on environmental good practice has been named as a role model company.

Located in Tredegar, Penn Pharmaceutical is one of the UK's leading providers of pharmaceutical outsourcing services to the international healthcare industry. The company is involved in formulation development, analytical development, clinical trial manufacture, clinical trial supplies and contract manufacturing.

The firm, which employs 237 people and has a current turnover of £23m, has been invited to join the Welsh Assembly Government's prestigious Inside Welsh Industry programme. It will share its best practice environmental strategies with business owners and managers from across Wales.

Over the last four years Penn has adopted a comprehensive award winning environment policy which has seen it working with ARENA Network; funding the placement of an environmental research assistant; achieving the Green Dragon level 5 and ISO14001 environmental standards, and has adopted a range of measures to reduce carbon emissions.

It has installed energy efficient lighting and motors, and made personnel aware of the need to conserve energy by encouraging staff to turn off electrical equipment at the end of the day. Penn has also installed energy efficient equipment such as photocopiers that power down to idle mode after a short period of non use and it has achieved outstanding results in recycling and reductions in waste to landfill.

Valerie Ellis, Penn's human resources director, said: "Businesses need to understand that going green doesn't have to be an administrative and financial burden. Since 2004 as a direct result of our environmental policies we've made cost savings of around £124,000. We would encourage other companies to take-up the green challenge."

Penn Pharmaceutical Services is also working alongside a highly respected team of bioscience professionals to help close the skills gap recognised across the industry.

Research completed by the Sector Skills Council for Science, Engineering and Manufacturing Technologies found that more than a quarter of bioscience companies do not have the science skills they need in their existing workforce and 39 per cent of companies are struggling to fill existing vacancies.

Penn Pharmaceuticals is a member of the Science Standard Development Group which is behind the new skills plan. Director of human resources at Penn, Valerie Ellis, sits on the steering group.

She said: "The group is working hard to ensure that the skills gap is closed. We have a very keen interest in this initiative as Penn already employs technicians in the analytical development and quality control labs.

"As a company we are already committed to providing our staff with the correct training and support in order for them to develop and last year alone we spent £130,000 on external training. We aim to encourage more businesses within the bioscience sector to invest in their staff."

With revenues worth £3.3bn per annum, the biosciences play a vital role in maintaining the UK's international competitiveness. The sector skills agreement will help enable the sector to address the issues affecting recruitment and encourage further training across the UK.

Valerie said: "By utilising the standards we can provide an alternative route to graduate entry into employment for scientific laboratory based positions. It is well recognised that some graduate courses don't equip students with the practical skills required in the work place but the organisations in the steering committee are working together to ensure that supply meets demand in the future for science positions."