Equality North East

Awards

Speeches: Liz Reay, Kevin Rowan & Vera Baird

Speech by Liz Reay, Chief Executive, Equality North East.

Good Evening I am delighted to welcome you all to the 2007 North East Equality Awards, here at the Gateshead Hilton at the foot of the Tyne Bridge.
Now, a question, who thinks the design of the Sydney Harbour Bridge was based on the design of the Tyne Bridge? Well as a matter of fact, it was the other way round! The Tyne Bridge was designed by Mott, Hay and Anderson who based their design on, the Sydney Harbour Bridge which in turn was based on the Hell Gate Bridge in New York.

Work started on the Sydney Bridge before building began on the Tyne Bridge. The confusion arises because the Sydney Harbour Bridge took longer to complete due to its larger size.

Something I learned whilst doing a little digging to find out about the Hilton and in particular this area of Gateshead - and why was I doing that you may ask? It was in order to maintain the tradition of comparing the spirit of equality with the venue in which we hold the awards dinners.

The road we are on is called Bottle Bank and I found that, centuries ago it was the main road to Durham.

There was only one bridge linking Gateshead and Newcastle and that occupied the site of the present Swing Bridge. From there you could see practically the , whole town clustered along the riverbanks because Gateshead was then a very small settlement outside the main town of Newcastle.
There were some fine houses fronting on to the main street however the alleys and forecourts behind had poor drainage and no sanitation. Living conditions were poor and became poorer, as the area became more and more overcrowded over the years there were outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and smallpox. The better off left the area for more salubrious surroundings and the once fine houses were tenemented and became slums.

There are a few moments of glory but for the most part I found the history of Gateshead to be a history of depravation, class segragation and of real struggle for the people who lived here.

More astounding then is the present time where, on the banks of the Tyne that has seen such poverty we now see this wonderful Hotel, The Baltic, The Sage the Milenium Bridge - just a few examples of the magnificent evidence of the progress that has been made through a sustained programme of reclamation and redevelopment and a newly formed marketing partnership with its old rival Newcastle.

So, history lesson over so what similarities with this and the spirit of the equality awards� did I find - well I can think of quite a few!
� First of all the Bridges The Tyne Bridge was based on the design of the Sydney Harbour Bridge which was based on the design of Hells Gate Bridge � and if that�s not sharing best practice I don�t know what is.
� Throughout the world Newcastle and Gateshead are famous for their Bridges so I cannot but help come out with the obvious how the equality awards are helping : -
� To bridge the gaps in our workplace and society
� Providing links and communication between people and organization
� Remove the barriers to progress
� The awards as are about ensuring that no one faces depravation or discrimination of any type be it on the grounds of, race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation faith class or any other reason.
� A key element of the recent progress in Gateshead has been the marketing partnership with Newcastle. Equality North East works in partnership with all of you sponsors to ensure the delivery of these awards and without your support we would not have the success we have today.

� Finally, Equality is about progress about getting the best out of your people so that they can achieve their full potential and consequently your business and the whole region will prosper.

There has been major progress with the North East Equality Awards this year, we have record breaking applications and those of you who have been short-listed should be truly very proud, the competition was awesome!
One of the things I have noticed about Gateshead and Newcastle and this whole area is the feeling of pride and celebration in all that has been achieved. Tonight is also a celebration of achievement, so I hope you have a wonderful evening.

Speech by Kevin Rowan, Northern Regional Secretary of the TUC & Chair of Equality North East.

WE�RE GETTING TO THE BUSINESS END OF THE MEETING NOW � WHERE ALL THOSE NOMINATED FOR AWARDS CAN LOOK FORWARD TO THE END OF THE NERVOUS WAITING � A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THEM IN THE MINUTE

OF COURSE � I REALISE I�M JUST THE WARM UP ACT FOR OUR KEY NOTE SPEAKER � SO I WILL BE BRIEF

BUT I MUST TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK LIZ AND THE STAFF OF EQUALITY NORTH EAST FOR ORGANISING A TREMENDOUS EVENING � AND ALSO FOR YET ANOTHER YEAR OF SUCCESS FOR EQUALITY NORTH EAST

IT�S AN ORGANISATION I�M VERY PROUD AND PRIVILEDGED TO BE ABLE TO CHAIR AND ON BEHALF OF ALL OF THE BOARD I WOULD LIKE TO CONGRATULATE AND APPRECIATE THE ENDEAVOUR, THE DEDICATION AND THE QUALITY OF THE WHOLE OF THE TEAM

FOR THOSE WHO DON�T KNOW ME � MY DAY JOB IS REGIONAL SECRETARY OF THE TUC � AND I DO WANT TO EXPLOIT THE PRIVILEDGE OF THIS POSITION TO WELCOME THE TRADE UNION NOMINEES HERE TONIGHT � IT IS THE FIRST YEAR WE�VE HAD A TRADE UNION SECTION IN THE AWARDS AND I�M GREATLY ENCOURAGED THAT WE � TRADE UNIONISTS � ARE BEGINNING TO RECOGNISE AND APPRECIATE THE EXCELLENT CONTRIBUTION THAT TRADE UNION WORKPLACE REPRESENTATIVES ARE MAKING TO EQUALITY AT WORK

WE�RE ALL FAMILIAR I THINK WITH THE CHALLENGING ISSUES REGARDING INEQUALITY AT WORK � PAY � OPPORTUNITY � OCCUPATIONAL SEGREGATION � INEQUALITY IN RETIREMENT EVEN MORE SEVERE BECAUSE OF INEQUALITY IN WORK

TRADE UNION REPS AT WORK ARE MAKING A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE FOR WORKING PEOPLE � AND WE ALL KNOW WE NEED TO DO MORE � WE NEED TO MAKE A BIGGER DIFFERENCE

ONE OF THE CHARACTERISTICS OF TONIGHT THOUGH � IS THE DIVERSITY OF ORGANISATIONS AND PEOPLE WHO ARE HERE � WE REPRESENT A VERY WIDE CROSS-SECTION OF NORTH EAST SOCIETY � THERE AREN�T MANY OTHER OCCASIONS THAT I CAN THINK OF WHERE WE WOULD ALL END UP IN THE SAME ROOM

AND IF WE TAKE A STEP BACK FROM THAT THOUGHT � AND UNDERSTAND THAT WE ARE ALL HERE BECAUSE OF OUR COMMITMENT TO TACKLING INEQUALITY OUR AMBITION TO PROMOTE AND INCREASE DIVERSITY � THEN I HAVE TO SAY � AS A COLLECTIVIST BY NATURE AND BY PROFESSION � I HAVE TO SAY THAT I�M EXTREMELY ENTHUSIASTIC ABOUT WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE � WHAT A POWERFUL ROOM THIS IS

AND A FURTHER CONGRATULATIONS TO EQUALITY NORTH EAST AND A THANK YOU TO ALL OF THE SPONSORS FOR MAKING THIS KIND OF COLLABORATION � FOR MAKING THIS KIND OF CELEBRATION POSSIBLE

WE HAVE HAD SOME DIFFICULT BLOWS AS A REGION IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS OR SO � THESE ARE NOTHING NEW TO US BUT THEY ARE A CHALLENGE TO OUR CONFIDENCE � AND WE MUST KEEP OUR HEADS HIGH

AS ALAN CLARKE THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AGENCY LAST WEEK � WE MUST RELY ON OURSELVES TO DEVELOP THE SOLUTIONS TO THE CHALLENGES WE FACE IN THE REGION

AND THERE IS MUCH TO BE PROUD OF � ESPECIALLY IN RELATION TO OUR AMBITIONS TO TACKLE INEQUALITY AND TO PROMOTE DIVERSITY

THE CURRENT REGIONAL ECONOMIC STRATEGY HAS A STRONG PEOPLE FOCUS � EMPHASISING THE CRITICAL VALUE OF EQUALITIES � DIVERSITY AND ECONOMIC INCLUSION AS KEY ECONOMIC DRIVERS � AND I WOULD WISH TO PAY PARTICULAR TRIBUTE TO PAT RITCHIE FOR DRIVING THIS AGENDA IN SHAPING THE RES

THE ASSOCIATION OF NORTH EAST COUNCILS HAS PLACED ECONOMIC INCLUSION AT THE HEART OF ITS STRATEGIC CORPORATE PLAN IN THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES� ASPIRATIONS TO ACHIEVE COHESIVE SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES

THE NORTH EAST ASSEMBLY HAS PROMOTED EQUAL ACCESS TO WORK AS A KEY DRIVER IN REFORMING THE CURRENT REGIONAL TRANSPORT STRATEGY

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY IS ON EVERYBODY�S AGENDA

AND WE � I BELIEVE � ARE THE FIRST REGION TO ESTABLISH A REGIONAL EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY BOARD AND THE EMERGING REGIONAL EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY STRATEGY I BELIEVE SHOWS A COMPREHENSIVE REGIONAL COMMITMENT TO IMPROVING OUR PERFORMANCE IN THESE AREAS

AND TONIGHT IS A CELEBRATION � A CELEBRATION OF THIS COLLECTIVE DETERMINATION TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE � TO WORK TOWARD ACHIEVING A BETTER � MORE EQUAL SOCIETY THAN WE HAVE NOW

AS MUCH A COLLECTIVIST AS I AM � I ALSO KNOW THAT ALL ORGANISATIONS CAN DO IS TO CREATE THE SPACE � OPPORTUNITY AND ENVIRONMENT FOR INDIVIDUALS TO ACT

COLLECTIVISM IS AN ENABLING DYNAMIC THAT ALLOWS INDIVIDUAL BRILLIANCE TO SHINE

AND SO TONIGHT IS ALSO A CELEBRATION OF THE WONDERFUL CONTRIBUTION THAT INDIVIDUALS MAKE

TONIGHT IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO RIGHTLY APPRECIATE SOME OF THE MOST FANTASTIC ACTIONS BY INDIVIDUALS AS WELL AS ORGANISATIONS � INDIVIDUALS WHO ARE MOTIVATED NOT BY THEIR OWN PERSONAL AMBITIONS � BUT BY A BURNING DESIRE TO HELP OTHERS � AN EMPHATIC ASPIRATION TO MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE FOR OTHERS WHO WITHOUT THAT SUPPORT WOULD CONTINUE TO BE WORSE OFF � WORSE TREATED AND LACKING OPPORTUNITY � HELP AND SUPPORT THAT CAN LITERALLY CHANGE THE WORLD � ONE PERSON AT A TIME

EVERYONE WHO HAS MADE SUCH A DIFFERENCE � WE ALL OWE YOU A VERY MAJOR THANK YOU FOR MAKING THE REGION A BETTER PLACE FOR ALL OF US

AND SO � TO OUR KEYNOTE SPEAKER � I AM JUST THE WARM UP ACT

VERA BAIRD HAS BEEN AND IS BOTH A CHAMPION OF EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY AND A CHAMPION FOR THE REGION

ONE OF OUR BRIGHTEST AND MOST ABLE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT � UNDERSTANDABLY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE MOST CAPABLE MEMBERS OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT

VERA HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS SUPPORTER OF EQUALITY NORTH EAST � AND I THINK THE ONLY BOARD MEMBER WHO CAN GET AWAY WITH NEVER TURNING UP FOR THE BOARD MEETINGS

VERA � WE THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE FOR THE REGION � FOR EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY � AND FOR EQUALITY NORTH EAST

Speech by Vera Baird QC MP. Solicitor General

Vera's speech to 4th Annual North East Equality Awards awards dinner on Friday last at Gateshead Hilton Hotel:

I am pleased to be here for the presentation of these prestigious awards. Recently I had a meeting with the Equality and Diversity Forum who told me that Equality North East and Equality South West were by far the best regional equalities groups in the country. It is therefore a real pleasure to meet Paul Dunn and Jackie Longworth from ESW and to have them here with us tonight

There is no doubt that - as the Equalities Review said
"We are now a more equal society than at any time in living memory"
In the last decade we have enacted the Human Rights Act, stepchange improvements in legislation about race and gender equality and have introduced protection against disability inequality which has been shown to have real teeth. There are public duties to promote equality on the basis of gender, disability and race; the outlawing of age discrimination at work; the establishment of the Equalities Act and the advent of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission - these are the formal equalities provisions, apart from the massive socio-economic steps we have taken such as introducing and repeatedly increasing the minimum wage - a great boost to women and to low-paid Asian workers, soon to be nine months maternity leave and then twelve months; better pensions for older people; civil partnerships.

This is the strongest focus on equalities there has ever been. These are rights and improvements given by our government, even though we are in government - it is not easy to give people rights which are capable of increasing the burden on government and of being problematic but we have and we will increase rights to equality. We have taken it to the highest echelons of the Establishment. In the Ministry of Justice where I used to be, a department not very long ago, preoccupied with judicial appointments and making up of QCs there are now staff support groups across all six of the major strands of discrimination. Government is not just the elected, it is the officials too and here they are making clear that their inner sanctums have been affected by the need for equalities. There is the Judicial Appointments Commission, too, making progress in ensuring that the judiciary better matches the diversity of the community we live in.

All this and more besides is happening, yet there are still issues.

The average weekly earnings of a Bangladeshi male is half that of a white male. The pay gap between men and women is 17% but if you take into account part time work, it is 38%

Disabled people are 30% more likely to be out of work than not disabled.

These gaps are narrowing but some of them only at a crawl.

We will not have a representative House of Commons at the current state of progress until Romeo Beckham's great grandson makes the transition from British to American soccer. Closing the gender gap will take fifteen years longer than that. Tell your daughters and grand daughters that they are sugar and spice and all things nice but forget the chocolates and teddies for their birthdays, set up a trust fund quickly, for they will over their lifetimes earn hundreds of thousands of pounds less than their brothers.

At the present rate of progress we will bridge the ethic employment gap 170 years after the death of Ghandi about 120 years after Nelson Mandela made his long walk to freedom and a hundred years after we set up a statue of him, as we recently have in Whitehall.

The disability pay gap we will probably never bridge unless we seriously renew our efforts and speed up.

Those who are campaigners in the audience should never weaken, never relax. It is possible to get a reaction that equality is a burden on business from some members of our society, amazingly, at this time in the 21st century. You business people who have competed for tonight�s awards put the untruth to that. However there is a need to keep the pressure up and to work outside of government with allies inside.

However, I feel bright about equalities that we are in transition and are going to intensify our work for change.

We are in transition to a better system with the advent of the Equalities and Human Rights Commission. It will be in business practically by the time you all recover from your hangovers! It starts next week. The current three commissions for race, gender and disability are merged into one and the strands of gender orientation, religion and age are represented by a Commission for the first time.

They have located mostly in Manchester having carried out a disability audit and having found that it was the most diverse place with the highest numbers of needy people - a good way to start. There will be an office in London and one in Cardiff and one in Glasgow. The people involved are confidence-inspiring. Trevor Phillips is the Chair, well known for his work at the CRE and his vocal views. His deputy is Margaret Prosser, lifelong trade union leader, two years ago asked to chair the Women and Work Commission looking for, in particular the causes of the pay gap and how to tackle it. There is Jeannie Drake, who championed the issue of women and pensions in the Pensions Commission run by Adair Turner, and there is Kay Carberry, former Assistant General Secretary of the TUC. Add Sally Greengross, chair of the Experience Corps, vice chair of Age Concern and of the Longevity Commission, Francesca Klug a very eminent human rights law academic, Bert Massie the well known chair of the Disability Rights Commission and Kay Hampton, a black South African, now a Professor and the former chair of the CRE. All these are commissioners and the staff who are coming in are similarly confidence inspiring - for instance the legal director is going to be John Wadham former Chief Executive of Liberty and currently vice chair of the IPCC who at the same time as taking on this job, also launched a foundation to campaign against deaths in custody. These are all people who are fighters and who understand the issues to a very high level indeed

They will not organise themselves along strands of inequality but merge all the strands and work thematically. They intend to be heavily consultative and have some new powers available too.

We are also in transition to a new Single Equality Act. There has been criticism of the Green/White Paper as too much of a lowest common denominator document, but far from that we would want to make sure that the strength of each of the strands complements the others.

It is obvious, though not easy, that we must give protection against age discrimination in goods and services. We clearly need better application to the issues of multi-strand discrimination. There is a telling case study of a black woman soldier who alleged that she had been passed over for promotion. She could use as a comparator a white soldier of equivalent age, experience and qualifications who had been promoted ahead of her. She could demonstrate that a black man of equivalent age, experience and qualifications had been promoted ahead of her. However she failed in her action because she couldn�t compare both race and gender strands simultaneously to demonstrate that another person like her had been promoted when she had not. The reason she couldn�t do that is because there had never been a black woman soldier in a high enough rank to qualify, ever before.

I am also confident of the people in government, managing the transition. Harriet Harman has a lifelong commitment to the cause of women, was herself taken to court for championing human rights when she worked for Liberty and has one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the country in Peckham. I heard her pledge herself to the cause of the disabled at an LGBT night two days ago at the Labour Party conference. Her championship of equalities will be strong and influential.

In Nick Brown, we, in the north east have a Minister who I have always regarded - even though he is a government whip! - as a sensitive individual and he has himself experienced discrimination.

Gordon spoke strongly about equality in his magnificent conference speech. He understands disability having suffered from an eye injury at rugby during his school years.

I hope as solicitor general to play my part in influencing the criminal justice system in the direction of greater equality. The crime of rape is primarily, though not exclusively, against women. With at conviction rate of 5.7% of the cases reported to the authorities, when we know that probably only about 10% of rape victims make any report at all, we have a true conviction rate of about half a percent. In other words it is easy to get away with rape - in this country, in this century, now.

Testifying in a case when you have been a victim of racial or homophobic hatred crime is very hard and getting a conviction very difficult too.

I have a real concern about how well the criminal justice system treats victims and witnesses who are mentally ill or have learning difficulties. All too often it seems as though they are predicted to be likely to be bad witnesses and their cases are dropped. It is quite intolerable that vulnerable people like that can be prey to crime and be so poorly served by the system that they lose their case.

So there is a strong group of people in government who are fighting for equalities and doing so strongly. But of course we can't bring change on our own. How can Whitehall tell a local small business how to alter its procedures so as to improve diversity. It cant. It requires a good NGO like Equality North East, well-rooted in the local neighbourhood, understanding the framework within which local firms are working, who can do that successfully.

ENE is SO well networked. Lets face it most of you here tonight are not crusaders for equalities. No, you are mainstream business people who understand that by ensuring equality so that all your employees can achieve the best for themselves, they will also achieve the best that can be got for your company. It is a huge tribute to the quality of ENE's work that every year the numbers of businesses involved goes up and up and the decision of the judges for these awards gets more and more difficult since there are so many examples of top class practice represented here.

So let me say that although I am the guest speaker tonight, the real stars are Equality North East, the fantastic winners of these awards and those who were finalists even if they do not win. I also want to praise Kevin Rowan, who is head of the Regional TUC and Chair of ENE. the Equality and Diversity forum told me that the best equalities groups flourish if they have close relationships with the local TUC as well as business. Kevin has been an ENE devotee for many many years. So lets go away from me in the spotlight and onto the people who really are the stars and when you give a round of applause now don�t direct it to me but to Equality North East and to the leadership of Kevin Rowan.

Close by Liz Reay, Chief Executive, Equality North East.

What a fantastic evening of celebration. I would like to thank Vera for sharing this evening with us and for her continued support, Kevin for his valued input tonight as well as continued input and support as Chair of Equality North East and I would like to take this opportunity to also thank you to David, Julie, Harri and Michael and the other ENE Directors who were unable to be with us tonight.
This event has become the highlight of the Year for Equality North East and I want to say a huge thank you to Equality North East staff for yet another fantastic year. Thank you to Helen Fletcher for her behind the scenes work in the delivery of this wonderful night and of course to Pip and John who have been wonderful tonight � in fact a clap! Thank you again to our sponsors and all of those who applied.

However, the rest of the evening belongs to the winners so as we invite them all back up to the stage for photo opportunities and to collect the certificates please pop your partie poppers cheer and clap. Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2007 North East Equality Awards winners!!!