Council receives top award for equality services

Tower Hamlets have won an award for equality services. Pic: Twitter

Tower Hamlets have won an award for equality services. Pic: Twitter

Tower Hamlets council has been rated ‘excellent’ for its equality services in the borough.

The council received the highest award available from the Local Government Association, which assessed the borough against the Equality Framework of Local Government.

The Council was adjudged to have provided “high-quality” services, meeting the needs of people from all backgrounds.

Tower Hamlets Mayor, Luftur Rahman, credited the council’s One Tower Hamlets scheme, which aims to support projects that bring together residents from different backgrounds.

“I am pleased that our approach to creating One Tower Hamlets has received national recognition,” said Rahman. “‪Our work with partners in the community promoting Tower Hamlets as a safe, cohesive and tolerant borough is one of our greatest strengths.”‪

“I am also proud of our on-going delivery of high-quality, vital services. Our improvements to the support of people with dementia have made such a difference to residents’ quality of life, and the availability of accessible homes for disabled people in the borough exemplifies our approach to keeping residents well.”

EFLG assessed the borough in five performances areas: knowing your communities, leadership, partnership and organisational commitment, community engagement and satisfaction, responsive services and customer care and a skilled and committed workforce.

The assessment was also influenced by the council’s achievement in the Annual Residents Survey on the topic ‘People from different backgrounds getting on well together’. Tower Hamlets’ performance improved from 75% in 2010 to 81% in 2013.

Tower Hamlets currently supports different communities by providing specific services such as Local Voices for disabled people and Rainbow for the LGBT community.

It also offers all new residents from different background the opportunity to tell service providers what services they will need through the New Residents and Refugees form.

Deputy mayor Cllr Ohid Ahmed added: “We have achieved a great deal together, and we are committed to continually improving our services to meet the needs of all our residents.”

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