Member Article

High-profile speakers launch North East equality & diversity firm

The MP at the centre of a recent bugging scandal is coming to the North East to speak at the launch of a new company that will help regional public and private sector employers meet their equality and diversity responsibilities.

Sadiq Khan MP will join Newcastle Central MP Jim Cousins and Anne Railton of national business accreditation body NCFE at the launch of Equality & Diversity Services Ltd in Newcastle on Friday.

The new company is being set up by husband and wife team Liaquat and Samantha Latif, who also run established Newcastle immigration and human rights law firm Latif Solicitors, with a view to making local support and advice on recent workplace legislation easily available to North East employers.

Co-director Samantha Latif decided to set up the business after discovering that North East organisations were having to look as far afield as London to find accredited training providers in this sector.

She said: “The work undertaken by Latif Solicitors has naturally brought us into contact with a range of equality and diversity issues, but despite the fact that legislation has made them more and more important in recent years, we found that there were hardly any regional firms that could help address related workplace training requirements.

“The North East is very much playing ‘catch up’ on these issues with other major British cities, but by setting up this new company, we are taking the first steps towards closing that gap.”

The launch event speakers will provide national and regional perspectives on equality and diversity issues, as well as their views on how they can best be addressed in workplace situations.

Samantha Latif continues: “To have three such highly respected individuals speaking at our launch event is a real honour for us, and gives an indication of the growing importance of equality and diversity matters to our region.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .