PinkNews Awards 2018: Public Sector Award nominees revealed
The PinkNews Awards‘ Public Sector Award seeks to highlight and celebrate the efforts that public sector employers have undertaken to improve LGBT+ equality over the past year.
In 2017, GCHQ picked up the award for its services to the LGBT+ community and allies.
This year’s shortlist highlights the efforts and achievements made by organisations across education, government and wider public services to change things for the better for the LGBT+ community.
A winner will be announced at the PinkNews Awards on October 17.
The shortlist for the Public Sector Award is:
St Andrews University
The University of St. Andrews strives to represent every member of the community through its policies that ensure that LGBTQI+ employees, students, and community members have a voice and are not discriminated against.
The University of St. Andrews is the only public sector university to achieve the LGBT Charter, which is facilitated by LGBT Youth Scotland.
The university’s procurement process was endorsed as best LGBT UK HE sector practice by Stonewall due to its robust system for scrutinising equality policies before awarding contracts to companies tendering for university business.
You can find out more about the work of St Andrews here.
De Montfort University
De Montfort University believes that everyone should have the freedom to be, the freedom to inspire and the freedom to succeed. In 2016, it launched a game-changing charter, DMUfreedom, with the premise that all staff and students be afforded the respect, inspiration, space and support to reach their full potential.
Through DMUfreedom, the university seeks to advance equality and diversity through an ambitious set of game-changers and equality objectives, to ensure DMU is a diverse and friendly place to study and work, where everybody feels the freedom to be, to inspire and to succeed.
Find out more here.
House of Commons
The House of Commons is proud to be an inclusive employer and is constantly seeking to demonstrate a commitment to best practice when it comes to supporting our LGBT+ employees and allies.
Due to the strength of its Workplace Equality Network ParliOUT the House of Commons is the highest UK public sector body (ranked 23rd) on the Stonewall top employers list.
In April 2018, the House of Commons confirmed it is one of 13 leading organisations to join forces with LGBT charity Stonewall as a partner on the Trans Allies scheme.
You can find out more about how the House is championing LGBT+ rights and inclusivity here.
Ministry of Justice
Diversity and inclusion is fundamental to how the MoJ operates as an employer. LGBT+ inclusion is a big part of that, and the MoJ is a champion in its support for its LGBTQI+ employees as well as the wider community outside its organisation.
The MoJ provides LGBQ+ and trans, non-binary and intersex policies within its HR policy. Published in July 2017, they set out the MoJ’s commitment to LGBTQI+ inclusion alongside sources of advice for managers, support services, tips on being an ally and expectations of all staff regarding behaviour and conduct.
Additional learnings are also provided by the MoJ. These include coaching programmes, development pathways, learning seminars and Stonewall training.
Click here to find out more.
National Assembly of Wales
The National Assembly of Wales takes a proactive approach to diversity, supporting a LGBT workplace equality network and providing training for staff ‘supporting LGBT employees’ to provide further in-depth awareness across LGBT issues.
All Front of House staff are provided with guidance to ensure that they understand the issues around LGBT inclusivity and gender diversity and terminology.
LGBT inclusivity is on display through the use of rainbow lanyards, which allow LGBT staff and allies to demonstrate their commitment to LGBT staff and visitors.
The National Assembly provides coaching and mentoring for LGBT employees and an advisory service to assist LGBT staff with issues – with regular LGBT events taking place across the Assembly.
The National Assembly was recognised by Stonewall as the UK’s top employer for LGBT people in 2018. It has advised and shared resources with RSPCA, RNLI, Northern Ireland Government Departments and Welsh Government.
Click here to find out more.
Northumbria Police
The Northumbria Police LGBT+ Association is dedicated to positively supporting and representing all communities and enabling everyone to be themselves at work.
Internally, the Association embraces various communication methods to raise awareness of support to its employees, including marketing and publicity and the establishment of Association social media accounts, newsletters, business cards, and apparel.
The Northumbria Police LGBT+ Association is a Stonewall Top 100 Employer. It is in 69th position and the fifth best placed Police Service within the UK.
You can find out more about how Northumbria Police is championing LGBT+ rights and inclusivity here.
Nottinghamshire County Council
The Nottinghamshire County Council ensures that its employees and members of the surrounding community are comfortable to be themselves through spreading inclusive practices and preparing Allies to stand up for LGBT+ equality and inclusion.
The Council’s internal staff network was highly commended by Stonewall for its work, especially empowering allies to signpost resources for LGBT+ colleagues and supporting Worksop and Nottinghamshire Pride.
This year, the Council was ranked 22nd in the country for LGBT+ equality and is collaborating with other Stonewall Employers to share resources to improve their LGBT+ provision.
Find out more about the Council’s work here.
Royal Navy and Royal Marines
Since the lifting of the ban on LGBT military service, the Royal Navy and Royal Marines have been on a journey to prioritise diversity of thought and protecting the interest of the nation, including all diverse communities. The Royal Navy and Royal Marines have LGBT+ role models throughout the organisation, including the most senior openly gay officer in the UK, who provide training. Both organisations prioritise heath, offering HIV testing and treatments as well as a network of psychiatric specialists.
In addition to its inclusive stance within its own parameters, Senior officers took an international stance by publicly reacting to the President of the United States declaring a ban on trans military service in the USA and marching at Rome Pride.
Read more about the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Equality and Diversity here.
Transport for London
TfL is committed to creating an inclusive workplace for all staff and are working towards making the organisation reflective of London’s population. As part of this TfL run a series of activities for LBGT+ staff and allies each year.
Since 2013, the organisation has featured prominently in the pride parade with colleagues from all parts of TfL taking part. Its participation amplified the Mayor of London’s stance on diversity and sends the strong message that London is open and welcomes all, regardless of background, religion, race, gender, disability, age or sexual orientation.
Find out more here.
Welsh Government
The Welsh Government strives to support its employees and members of the surrounding communities by advocating for diversity and inclusion through its LGBTQI+ staff network called PRISM.
PRISM was named as Stonewall Cymru’s Network 2018 and is placed 12th out of 433 organisations in the 2018 Stonewall Workplace Index, making it the highest performing government, government department, or government agency in the UK.
To find out more about the Welsh Government’s efforts click here.
The PinkNews Awards is supported by Lloyds Banking Group.
