Bury Division becomes first in UK to receive National Diversity Award

Date published: 07 April 2009

Greater Manchester Police’s Bury Division has become the first policing division in the UK to receive a prestigious award recognising its commitment to the values of inclusion and diversity.

Bury Division has been awarded the Investors in Diversity Standard from the National Centre for Diversity following a two-year project which has seen the division make a variety of innovative changes to its working practices and environment to benefit staff and members of the public.

In order to achieve the award the division’s Investors in Diversity Steering Group - which is made up of police officers and staff – consulted with a variety of external organisations to gauge what needed to be done to make the division more inclusive to everyone.

These organisations included Bury Council, the Asian Women’s Centre and the police’s own independent advisory group, which is made up of representatives from a variety of minority groups in the community.

Investors in Diversity Steering Group member Pip Fitzpatrick said: “We got some very good feedback for our work with the organisation Press for Change which campaigns on issues affecting the trans-gender community.”

As a result of these consultations - and an internal survey of police staff and officers - a number of improvements have been made across the division including one-to-one HR clinics at all stations, better equipment such as flat screen PC monitors and new bicycles for PCSOs, and the refurbishment of the public enquiry area at Bury Police Station.

Divisional Commander Chief Superintendent Jon Rush said: “This award recognises the excellent work that is being done on the division and the sterling effort which was put in by the steering group in order to achieve it.

“For us, the end goal of the project was not the award itself but the positive improvements which were part of the process and will benefit our staff and members of the public for years to come.”

Solat Chaudhry Chief Executive of the National Centre for Diversity said: “The criteria that an organisation must meet to receive the award are very stringent, so staff and officers at Bury have every right to feel very proud of their achievement.”