Learning and Skills Council Chief receives “Leadership in Race Equality” award from Network for Black Professionals

The Network for Black Professionals present the award to the LSC Chief Exec

Mark Haysom, Chief Executive of the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), has received a “Leadership in Race Equality” award from the Network for Black Professionals (nbp).

The presentation was made at the Network for Black Professionals Annual Meeting at the International Convention Centre (ICC) in Birmingham in recognition of Mark’s work to address the under-representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff in the LSC.

Mark received one of only two awards to be made this year by the nbp, alongside Sue Dutton, Deputy Chief Executive of AoC.

The “Leadership in Race Equality” annual award was established in 2002 and previous winners include:

• Sir David Melville, Chair of Lifelong Learning UK;
• Wally Brown CBE, Principal of Liverpool Community College and
• Rajinder Mann, Director of the award winning Black Leadership Initiative.

Robin Landman, nbp Chief Executive, said:

“Under Mark’s leadership, the LSC has started a process to address the under-representation of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) staff in the LSC and this award recognises this progress. As well as public acknowledgement of the scale of his commitment, Mark has set in motion a clear process that is seeking to make a sustained difference not only to BME staff numbers, but also the organisational culture changes that will cement those changes.”

Mark Haysom said:

“This award represents the LSC’s commitment to achieving equality and diversity across the sector. If we are to realise our vision of creating a word-class workforce we need to remove barriers, eliminate discrimination and address disadvantage. This needs to happen not only at the LSC but sector-wide in order to raise the aspirations of both present and potential staff. Ensuring BME groups are adequately represented in FE staffing will in turn have a positive effect on the attitudes of learners towards equality and diversity issues.

The LSC’s Single Equality Scheme, launched earlier this year, brings together our policies on race, gender and disability. It acts as a coherent framework for promoting equality and diversity within the organisation and across the learning and skills sector. I think this aptly demonstrates the importance the LSC places upon achieving BME staff representation, alongside the eradication of age, gender and disability discrimination.”

The npb was set up in 1998 to address the under-representation of Black staff in the Further Education sector, particularly in teaching, management and senior positions. Currently there are eight Black college principals, representing 2 per cent of the total. This picture contrasts starkly with the number of Black learners in the sector, with nearly 20 per cent of state funded learners in the English learning and skills system from BME communities.