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The London Child Poverty Awards
In November 2009 Tower Hamlets Council was awarded the London
Child Poverty Award in the Corporate Commitment category. This
award celebrates the inspirational work people are doing to support
families across London and we were recognised for the way in which
we have embedded efforts to tackle child poverty across all areas
of the organisation.
Tara Khanom, an employment advisor at Lincoln Children’s Centre,
was also a finalist for the Outstanding Practitioner Award in the
London Child Poverty Awards for her efforts in assisting many
parents back into work.
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Municipal Journal Achievement Awards
The MJ Achievement Awards aim to honour the very best in local
government and the awards are organised by the MJ magazine, a
weekly news magazine for UK local government.
In April 2010 Tower Hamlets Council was announced finalists for
this prestigious award in the Diversity Achievement of the Year
category and the Best Achievement in Children’s Services. Our
innovative approach to the implementation of the Sexual Orientation
Equality Scheme launched in April 2009 was recognised as well as
the holistic approach within the Leaving Care service where over
300 children leave care each year.
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Local Innovation Awards
The Local Innovation Awards replaces the Beacon Awards Scheme
and aims to identify and celebrate excellent service delivery by
local partnerships, support sharing good practice and help winners
to innovate and reform the way they deliver local services.
In November 2009, Tower Hamlets Council was shortlisted in three
categories. The Taking Control of Care category recognised
our strong track record over five years as one of the best adult
social care services nationally. The Community Safety category
recognised our innovation in changing frontline operations with
Tower Hamlets Enforcement Officers (THEOs). Finally, the
Achieving More Through Partnerships category recognised the
partnership work with NHS Tower Hamlets and the unique smoking
cessation project.
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Civic Trust Awards
The Civic Trust Awards scheme recognises high quality projects
that have made a positive cultural, social or economic contribution
to the local community.
In March 2010 Tower Hamlets was commended for the restoration
and refurbishment of the Old Spitalfields Market Hall due to its
architectural integrity and contribution to the surrounding
streets. Similarly, Boundary also received a commendation from the
Civic Trust Awards for bringing new vitality to this area of London
through the bold and highly sustainable refurbishment of the
existing industrial warehouse.
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RIBA Awards
In May 2010 the Whitechapel Gallery was
recognised by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in
their RIBA Awards 2010. Each year the RIBA awards buildings
that have high architectural standards and make a substantial
contribution to the local environment.
In May 2009, the Tarling Estate (Shadwell) Regeneration by S333
was also recognised in the RIBA Awards 2009. Despite being on a
compact site the Tarling Estate is an ambitious social housing
scheme aiming to integrate private and affordable housing and
revitalise the surrounding area creating new public spaces.
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Green Flag Awards
The Green Flag Awards recognise and reward the
best green spaces in the country. It is the national standard for
parks in England and Wales, and recognises well managed, high
quality areas.
In July 2009, six Tower Hamlets parks sustained their Green
Flags status: Mile End Park, Trinity Square Gardens, Weavers
Fields, King Edward Memorial Park (Shadwell Park), Millwall Park
and Island Gardens.
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Council Worker of the Year Awards
The awards champion the unsung heroes of local
government – those council workers who go above the call of duty on
a daily basis.
In May 2010, Menara Ahmed was one of five
council workers shortlisted nationally for the Community Engagement
category for her work as the Hate Crime Policy and Partnership
Manager. In this position Menara is responsible for
delivering the Tower Hamlets Hate Crime Strategy, the Champions
Project as well as the No Place for Hate Campaign and Pledge.
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MRW National Recycling Awards
Materials Recycling Week (MRW) holds the
annual National Recycling Awards to reward and recognise excellence
within the recycling and waste community.
In July 2010, Tower Hamlets picked up one of
the most coveted environmental awards - the Local Authority Target
Success award. We were recognised for our £1.5 million
recycling improvement plan which nearly doubled recycling rates
over the past two years. This plan was also supported by the
We Can Recycle More campaign, which saw the launch of Mr Recycle
More - a giant robot made from recycling bins.
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TES School Awards
These awards celebrate and reward the professionalism and flair
of those teams making an outstanding contribution to primary and
secondary schools.
In June 2010, Bishop Challoner won the Community Engagement
category for their work engaging local teenagers. This work
included a range of youth activities and setting up a "Learning
Village" where local teenagers visited the Middle East, removed
local graffiti and played football at the World Youth Cup in
Gothika, Sweden.
Old Palace and Bishop Challoner were also shortlisted for the
Outstanding Primary School and Outstanding Secondary School
categories respectively.
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Equality Framework for Local Government (“Excellent”)
The Equality Framework for Local Government (EFLG) is a national
measure of performance on equality for councils and following a
three day external assessment in January 2010 the council was
assessed as ‘Excellent’. This is the highest level of
achievement and Tower Hamlets is one of two councils nationally to
achieve this rating. The assessors described the Council as a
place where “there is strong leadership from Members, the Chief
Executive and senior mangers, which has a coherent vision of
equality.”
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Stonewall Workplace Equality Index
The Council was ranked 7th out of 100 agencies in the
Stonewall Workplace Equality Index 2010 for the second consecutive
year. The index celebrates the top 100 employers in the
country for fairness on lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) issues.
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Employers Forum on Disability
The Employers' Forum on Disability (EFD) is a membership
organisation of UK businesses. In September 2009 we were
ranked joint 5th out of 106 national organisations in
the EFD. Our top strengths identified in this assessment were in
relation to providing an accessible built environment, accessible
information, recruitment and selection as well as cultures and
behaviours.
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Healthy Town Programme
The Healthy Town Programme is a £6m programme and Tower Hamlets
was one of only nine authorities selected to take part and the only
London authority. Over 2 years (2010/11) we will take part in
a coalition called Change4Life, which is backed by the government,
food retailers, charities and community groups.
This programme is being coordinated by Tower Hamlets Partnership
with a leading role from NHS Tower Hamlets. We are piloting
environmental approaches to make it easier for children and
families to be more physically active and eat more healthily
wherever they live, work, travel, play or learn.
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Healthy Eating Awards
The Food for Health Awards is one of many Healthy Borough
projects which aims to make it easier for people in the
borough to eat more healthily.
The project has been designed by the council's
Environmental Health Officers and NHS Tower Hamlets
Nutritionists. Nearly 60 food businesses across the
borough are already part of the Food for Health Awards
ensuring residents and visitors can eat healthier choices
from local restaurants,
cafes and fast food takeaways.
As part of the Award programme local food
businesses are provided with advise on how to
prepare foods with reduced, salt and fat, as well as free
workshops on nutrition and healthier frying. We want to encourage
as many food businesses as possible to enter the Tower Hamlets Food
for Health Award Scheme.
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Smoke Free Awards
Tower Hamlets has issued 98 Smoke Free Awards to businesses that
have gone the extra mile in complying with the smoking ban and have
been prepared to allow staff to go to smoking cessation
classes. We have also worked in partnership with the Police
JET (Joint Enforcement Teams) to reduce the number of illegal
Shisha bars within the Borough going from 30 to 13. These premises
are well known for causing localised disturbance due to anti-social
behaviour.
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National Transport Awards
National Transport Awards remain all about recognising
excellence across the transport industry in the UK and Ireland,
rewarding innovation and progress for transport initiatives which
are really working. In March 2010 Tower Hamlets Council was
recognised by the Transport Times winning the Cycling Improvements
category for the National Transport Awards in partnership with NHS
Tower Hamlets and Sustrans Bike It Tower Hamlets.
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Transport Practitioners Conference
Sam Margolis’s paper on Tower Hamlets Active Travel: Promoting a
“Healthy Town” Through Walking and Cycling, which outlined the
Tower Hamlets Active Travel elements of the Healthy Borough
campaign. Sam won the annual Best Paper by a Young
Professional Award sponsored by the Transport Planning Society
(TPS) and it was awarded at the Transport Practitioners Meeting in
Reading on 15 July 2009.
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Baishakhi Mela
In May 2010 the Arts and Events Team successfully delivered the
Baishakhi Mela in Brick Lane, Weaver’s Fields and Allen Gardens
attracting a record 95,000 visitors to the event and started the
process of developing a community based management board in
preparation for handing management back to the community at some
point in the future.
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LGBT History Month 2010
LGBT History Month (February 2010) included celebrations
co-ordinated by the LGBT Community Forum. The theme for LGBT
History Month 2010 was Museums, Libraries and the Arts and this is
reflected in the range of exhibitions, screenings and talks
happening in local libraries and Idea Stores. This is the
first year that Tower Hamlets and Hackney councils have joined up
to list events in both boroughs together.
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