PROJECTS FUNDED IN 2005
Background
Citizens Advice
is one of Britain's leading providers of independent, impartial
and confidential advice and deals with over 5.6 million problems
every year. They have over 21,000 trained advisers in 480
Citizens Advice Bureaux, operating from 3,200 service outlets
including community centres, GPs surgeries and hospitals, courts
and prisons.
Their project involves
building generalist advice capacity to identify cases and
specialist employment advice capacity to provide advice and
casework. This will include training and development of advice
staff and the dissemination of resources and advice materials.
They will also piloting methodologies for developing regional
discrimination advice expertise and networks by piloting
projects in five bureaux in England and Wales, and strengthening
cooperation and joint-working with local religion and belief and
LGBT groups. A network of CAB advisers, including those from
faith and LGBT communities, will be developed and trained in
media skills to conduct local, regional and specialist radio
interviews and phone-ins on the regulations and sources of help.
Amount offered: £529,520
Contact: Ali Harris,
ali.harris@citizensadvice.org.uk
0207 833 5274
Acas
is an independent public organisation working to improve
organisations and working life through better employment
relations. It will be providing an audit tool to enable
organisations to test their current compliance and attitudes and
to provide a benchmark against which to re-test as they make
necessary changes.
Specialist
advisory services will be available to organisations who would
like help to improve their compliance and to change
inappropriate organisational culture. They
will be commissioning training from key stakeholders to enhance the contextual understanding of Acas advisors
and mediators to improve the service, particularly in hard to
reach communities. That improved understanding will also be used
to developed more targetted training materials both electronic
and face-to-face in a range of languages.
They will also be undertaking focussed research to develop a
base of knowledge. The research will cover previous ET claims,
new ET claims, Helpline questions and Advisors experience.
Amount offered: £472,630
Contact:
Brenda Roper,
broper@acas.org.uk
Stonewall, The UK’s
leading lesbian, gay and bisexual equality organisation will be
building further on their previous work. Their main activities
funded in this round will be Developing and disseminating a
bespoke information package for SMEs, Further distribution of
existing awareness-raising materials to meet high levels of
ongoing need teamed with the creation of a viral marketing and
advertising campaign to develop knowledge among young people in
particular. They will be maintaining their effective Referral
service and developing a ‘Masterclass’ programme for employers
across GB based on promotion of developing and existing good
practice.
The activities would have a national, local and regional presence
and would work in partnership with Stonewall Scotland and
Stonewall Cymru.
Amount offered: £355,359.
Contact:
Ben Summerskill,
ben.summerskill@stonewall.org.uk 020 7881 9440
The Law
Centres Federation will be raising awareness and understanding of SORB to ensure
incorporation of SORB legislation into the practices of Law
Centres and other community organisations. They will be mapping
existing material developed by Law Centres already funded by
previous rounds of this funding stream in an effort to harness
best practice and to ensure proper distribution of materials
across the Law Centre Network. Once best practice has been
identified materials such as leaflets etc will be reproduced and
distributed to members.
A Partnership Officer will work with member Law Centres to provide
a framework of standards and model policies on advice delivery,
equal opportunities, recruitment and selection etc. Training
will be organised for all Law Centres both to equip them with
the knowledge and expertise in SORB and to train a member of
each Law Centre staff to deliver training to local advice and
other community organisations in their local area. In addition
the Partnership Officer will develop template policies and
procedures to assist embedding of legislation in working
practice.
Amount offered: £158,358
Contact:
Noeleen Adams,
noeleen@lawcentres.org.uk 020 7387 8570
Stonewall Scotland will be building on the work of the first DTI funded project
which provided advice and training on SORB by working in
partnership with the Scottish Inter Faith Council to scope gaps
in knowledge, deliver training to a wider audience and provide
information and training for hard to reach audiences like SMEs.
They will
also work specifically to build capacity in a unique Scottish
SORB context and further experience of cross-strand working.
Stonewall Scotland and Scottish Inter Faith Council will work
together to provide a more thorough analysis of awareness and
impact of regulations in Scotland in time for initiation of CEHR
and to develop and share best practice in terms of delivering
cross strand training and information.
Amount
offered: £113,695
Contact:
Calum Irving,
calum.irving@stonewall.org.uk 0131 557 3679
Business in the Community
in partnership with Human Relations Network will be raising the
profile of the Employment Equality Legislation (Sexual
Orientation, Religion or Belief) by sharing best practice and
ensuring that employers understand their responsibilities,
encouraging them to carry out in house training with staff. They
will be working to develop sound policy and procedure and
building the confidence of HR Professionals and Managers in
dealing with the legislation. This will be done by developing
tailor made toolkits and attending Equality Review Forums.
Amount offered: £107,000
Contact: Beverley Toone, 0115
924 7415
Chambers
of Commerce North West will be undertaking research to establish baseline information
on levels of awareness amongst employers and employees on
Employment Equality issues. The research will then be repeated
on conclusion of the project to assess impact and understanding.
The Chambers will deliver a uniform programme of 35 workshops to
280 SMEs identified from the research programme detailed as well
as bringing together company beneficiaries in a “North West
Employer Network” to disseminate the project outcomes and share
and benefit from best practice. Information Departments within
participating Chambers will be utilised as a resource and
signposting service for all issues relating to Employment
Equality.
Amount
offered: £101,000.
Contact:
Hugh Evans,
hughe@lancschamber.co.uk
Stonewall Cymru will be working with partners in EOC Wales and DRC Wales on a
‘transfer of expertise’ scheme, offering training and advice to
help Citizens Advice Bureaux / Trades Unions / ACAS / usiness
advisers and other advocacy organisations to address significant
gaps in knowledge and understanding of the employment
regulations. The project will create expertise ‘on the ground’
in handling discrimination law, which will enhance the
effectiveness of the forthcoming CEHR through development of
effective mechanisms of joint ‘cross-strand’ working.
Stonewall
Cymru website:
www.stonewallcymru.org.uk
Amount
offered: £100,000
Contact:
Dr. Alison Parken, Director
Alison.parken@stonewall.org.uk
Equality North East are being
funded to develop networks supporting each of the six strands
covered by the CEHR. They will be working with other North East
equality organisations to build on existing networks by
including the wider audience of organisations, stakeholders and
employers who have an interest in the equality agenda. Equality
North East will develop a 'hub' which would co-ordinate, inform
and promote dialogue and networking within and across each
strand as well as educating, supporting and informing employers,
funders and other organisations and individuals.
Amount
offered: £87,606
Contact:
Liz Reay,
liz@equality-ne.co.uk
LGBT
Youth Scotland’s project will be specifically benefiting
Further and Higher Education
Institutions. LGBT Youth Scotland will be working in partnership
with both NUS Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council to
develop awareness of the Employment Equality (Sexual
Orientation) Regulation with staff (administrative and teaching)
and learners in the vocational training setting through:
-
Review of existing practice and needs
-
Development of a FE & HE training resource pack
-
Development and initial programme of training
-
Development of information for learners in vocational
training.
Amount
offered: £87,600.
Contact:
Fergus McMillan,
Fergus.mcmillan@lgbtyouth.org.uk 0141 221 5970
Leeds
Animation Workshop
are being funded to undertake the research, production and
dissemination of a short animated DVD resource to aid
understanding of the issues involved in discrimination against LGB people in employment. The DVD will have a national coverage
and an appeal to a wide range of beneficiaries.
Amount
offered: £79,755
Contact:
Terry Wragg,
law@leedsanimation.demon.co.uk 0113 248 4997
Scottish Inter Faith Council
will be working with various faith groups across Scotland to publish
a training pack appropriate to faith communities on the 2003
SORB regulations with a focus on rights, responsibilities and
the need to challenge discrimination. They will be addressing
gaps in knowledge and skills within the Scottish context of
those from hard to reach groups e.g. women of faith and those
from Muslim, Sikh and Hindu traditions.
Amount
offered: £71,863
Contact:
Pramila Kaur,
pkaur@interfaithscotland.org 0141 429 4012
Transport and General Workers Union
will be running a project that will raise awareness of the SORB
regulations amongst key opinion formers both within and without
the union.
A series of
seminars and training events will be run in three key regions,
targeting key sectors, workplaces and individuals, and building
on existing partnerships with community organisations and
employers. The seminars will aim to raise confidence amongst
union representatives and employers in dealing with a diverse
workforce and also (for transport/service workers) a diverse
customer group.
Training
and publicity materials will be produced to accompany the
training and also to facilitate this training being cascaded to
the wider membership. A toolkit
will be developed which can be rolled out and tailored for
specific audiences, for example a particular sector or
workplace, and also can be easily integrated with the other
strands of equality.
Amount
offered: £62,000
Contact:
Caroline Molloy,
cmolloy@tgwu.org.uk
Equality
and Diversity Forum
are being funded to ensure the widest
possible knowledge of the SORB Regulations and their application
amongst those dealing with all dimensions of equality, diversity
and human rights. This will be done through expanding the
network of organisations that receive the Forums communications
and developing a database to ensure a comprehensive overview of
organisations involved in equality work.
The Forum
will amongst other things be developing it’s electronic
newsletter as well as disseminating literature placing the SORB
Regulations within the broader equality agenda of the Commission
for Equality and Human Rights, the Discrimination Law Review,
Equalities Review and the forthcoming age discrimination
legislation.
Amount
offered: £52,450.
Contact: Moira Dustin,
info@edf.org.uk
020 7843 1597
Fair Play Partnership
will be working on a project based around research into employer
attitudes and awareness of the Employment Equality Regulations
2003 in the Yorkshire and Humber region. The research carried
out will inform what further support employers require in
embedding the Employment Equality Regulations and the key
sectors where work should be focused. In depth support with
employers from sectors with low levels of awareness of the
Employment Equality Regulations will be offered and the support
resources and good practice developed will be shared with
regional Equality networks and employer support organisations.
Additionally the Biznet website (www.biznet.org.uk),
which provides advice and guidance on equality issues for SMEs,
will be further developed to provide good practice guidelines,
updates on case law and a downloadable policy audit tool in
regards to the Employment Equality Regulations.
Amount offered: £50,210
Contact: Emma
Jones,
emma@fairplaypartnership.org.uk
0113 262 2789
TUC
are being funded to undertake a project to analyse the impact of
the SORB regulations through an expert study of cases taken so
far. The results of this research will be used to draw
conclusions on the developing use and interpretation of the
regulations and the consequences for employers and workers in
the workplace. The findings will be disseminated through
publishing the conclusions in a form targeted at trade union
legal officers and officials, and employers.
Amount
offered: £42,608
Contact:
Lucy Anderson,
LAnderson@tuc.org.uk
020 7467 1210
Network
of Sikh Organisations UK
are being funded to develop a professional Sikh consultancy to
raise awareness of the Employment Equality (Religion or Belief)
Regulations This will be done through the updating of the
organisations website and through local press, radio and gurdwaras.
Amount
offered: £17,500
Contact:
Kanwaljit Kaur- Singh,
sikhmessenger@aol.com
