Excellence is honoured as Remploy announces the winners of its 11th annual Leading the Way Awards
16th October 2007
Leading the Way award winners take centre stage at the grand final with Michael McGrath (centre, front) and Richard Farleigh (immediately behind Michael)Hundreds of businesses and individuals from across the nation entered this year’s awards and they were eventually whittled down to just 29 finalists who competed in eight different categories.
Remploy, the country’s leading provider of employment services for disabled people, hosted the final yesterday (Mon) at the Victoria Plaza hotel in London where Richard Farleigh, entrepreneur and a former “dragon” on the BBC 2 show Dragon’s Den, was on hand to present the awards.
The prestigious awards, which this year were held in association with The Times, recognise outstanding employers and individuals who have made significant efforts to actively encourage diversity within their organisations.
Awards were on offer to businesses in six categories, namely for Learning (the award sponsored this year by the Learning and Skills Council), Retention, Innovation and for Small (fewer than 100 employees), Medium (101 – 1,000 employees) and Large organisations (1,000+ employees).
Separate awards were also made to the Outstanding Business Individual and to the Outstanding Jobcentre Plus Individual of the year.
The winners presented with awards today by Richard Farleigh were:
Small Business - Andy's Karrs, Cambridge
Medium Sized Business – National Maritime Museum, Greenwich,London
Large Business - Civil Service - Royal Navy, Portsmouth, Hampshire
Outstanding Jobcentre Plus Individual - Julia Burden, disability employment advisor, Bristol Central Jobcentre
Outstanding Business Individual - Hilary Gibson, administrative officer, Child Support Agency, Child Support Agency, Birkenhead
Innovation - Holiday Inn, Edinburgh
Retention - Aspire Housing, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire
Learning - Morgan Stanley, Glasgow
Richard Farleigh told guests that it made business sense for companies to be inclusive and a caring working environment generated respect.
He added: “We should be looking at all angles to get the right people. It is the mark of a good business that it is able to do that.”
Businesses vying for an award in the Small, Medium and Large categories, along with individuals, had to compete at the regional finals with the winners going through to the national final while the shortlisted firms competing for the Learning, Retention and Innovation awards were judged solely on a national basis.
Remploy chief executive Bob Warner told the audience at the awards: “It is always a privilege to applaud those businesses and individuals that go the extra mile in the employment of disabled people.
“Thanks to the example that many of you in this room have set, more employers are understanding the benefits of employing disabled people and helping to create a level playing field for disabled job seekers.”
