National Park Authority on the level for equality, but more volunteer watchdogs needed

Northumberland National Park Authority has achieved level three of the Equality Standard for Local Government. This recognises the “very good progress” that it has made in recent years to ensure fair access to buildings, jobs and services for everyone.

The Authority has had equality built in to its employment policies for many years and is proud to report that there is no gender pay gap in the organisation.

Equality and diversity are now being made an integral part of the services that the Authority provide and one of the ways that this happens is through the setting up of an external Equality Forum. The Forum, made up of volunteers, meets four times a year to examine the Authority’s work. Recently, the Forum’s scrutiny has resulted in changes to National Park visitor centres to improve access for disabled people.

The Forum must represent the interests of people in terms of age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief and sexual orientation – acting as watchdogs to ensure employment, pay and service delivery are fair. Forum members attend meetings in Hexham and are often invited to staff events and to visit various sites throughout the National Park’s 400 square miles of natural beauty.

Steve Gray, Head of Finance and Human Resources said: “We continue to look for new volunteers to join the Forum. The main qualifications are to be interested in the National Park and the work of the Authority and to be able to spend a few hours every quarter helping us to improve our services. In return you will get to learn more about this special place in Northumberland and the work done to keep it special”.

Anyone interested in joining the Northumberland Equality Forum can find more information on www.northumberlandnationalpark.org.uk/equalities or give Steve a call on 01434 605555.

Media contact:

Frances Whitehead, Communications Officer
Northumberland National Park Authority

Email: communications@nnpa.org.uk
Telephone: 01434 611542
Fax: 01434 611692