Council support for young LGBTI receives national recognition
29th June 2017
Highland Council is delighted and honoured to have been announced as the ‘Most Improved Local Education Authority' and top performing Council in Scotland in Stonewall's seventh annual Education Equality Index.
This extremely welcome announcement was made at Stonewall's Education for All conference held yesterday (28 June) at the University of Birmingham.
The Index is a comprehensive benchmarking exercise for local authorities from across the country, showcasing how well they are celebrating difference and tackling homophobia, biphobia and transphobia in schools and supporting LGBT young people in their local communities.
This year, 39 local authorities from England, Scotland and Wales took part and The Highland Council was awarded ‘most improved local authority’.
Cllr Alasdair Christie, Chair of Highland Council’s People Committee, warmly welcomed the Stonewall award for Highland Council, he said: "This is fantastic news for our young people that we are making Highland a better place to live and learn in.
"I am very pleased to see that Stonewall’s 2017 School Report highlights some positive statistics as well as clear next steps in moving forward. Highland Council’s Equality and Diversity Improvement Group and LGBTI+ sub-group will continue to work next year to support children and young people, their families, our workforce and our communities across Highland. Congratulations to all our staff, schools and partners who thoroughly deserve this accolade."
Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive of Stonewall presented the award at the conference to James Cook, Highland Council’s Project Co-ordinator - Raising Attainment in Literacy, and Cath King, Highland Council’s former Health Improvement Policy Manager, who through her role was a catalyst of Highland’s collaboration with Stonewell’s Equality Education Index in 2015.
Ruth Hunt said: "The Council’s LGBTI+ sub group of the Equality and Diversity Improvement Group has wide representation from schools, local authority administrations, youth services, Police Scotland, LGBT groups and third sector agencies. That partnership approach has allowed for the key individuals in services around children and young people to support LGBTI education and actively prevent homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying.
She added: “That shares Stonewall’s vision of getting more people around a table a greater multi-agency approach to this work and trying to cut some of those corners and making sure that we have a joined up approach. I am very pleased to present the award to The Highland Council. Well done."
Stonewall’s 2017 School Report can viewed at: http://www.stonewall.org.uk/school-report-2017
Related Businesses
Related Articles
As intimated in Highland Council's budget plan, a new senior management structure is to be implemented following approval by Council 14th March. It reconfigures the senior management team into two layers, rather than three and brings Highland Council into line with other benchmarked authorities.
Today, Morrison Construction introduced some of their local apprentices who are working on the UK Governments' Levelling Up Funded refurbishment project at the Northern Meeting Park in Inverness. All these apprentices have been recruited from the Highland area.
The by-election to elect a councillor to represent Ward 19 - Inverness South on The Highland Council has been won by Duncan Cameron McDonald - Independent who was one of the eight candidates who contested the vacancy. Voters in the ward went to the poll yesterday (Thursday 11 April) and the by-election count was held this morning in The Highland Council Headquarters in Inverness.
The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate. The Technology Placement Programme offers funding to businesses in the Highland Council area to cover up to 70% of the cost of employing a student or graduate.
Following the success of its Business Digital Grant scheme launched last year, The Highland Council is delighted to announce further funding. This is to help Highland companies access digital support alongside other business growth support.
The Highland Council is delighted to confirm a highly successful second year for Public Service Obligation (PSO) flights between Wick and Aberdeen. The period from April 2023 to March 2024 has seen a substantial increase in passenger numbers, with several months seeing over 1,000 passengers using the service, and overall the service has seen year on year growth of 25%.
Members of Highland Council, who met on Thursday 14 March 2024, approved a corporate Digital Ambition, which has been designed to deliver significant organisational change across Council services, recognising the current priorities within the organisation. The Strategy, which is embedded within the wider Council Delivery Plan, has been developed to focus attention and resources on areas of change which will deliver the greatest benefit to the Council.
The Council remains committed to supporting mentoring in our schools, including the support that is currently delivered through the MCR Pathways programme. Highland Council is currently undertaking a review of Employability Support provided by a number of different council services and how these relate to the work carried out by external partners and in our schools.
Highland Council members have considered and agreed a revised draft Highland Outcome Improvement Plan. The partnership plan has been reviewed and updated by the Community Planning Partnership.
Members at today's (14 March 2024) meeting of The Highland Council agreed the local authority's new draft Community Wealth Building Strategy. They were also asked to note that a period of public engagement on the draft will now begin, with a final strategy returning to full Council for consideration in September.
