Lawyer calls on Northern Powerhouse to support diversity and inclusion

The founder of Diversity Magazine is calling on companies in the North to embrace the diversity agenda as the three-day Northern Powerhouse Business Summit gets underway in Newcastle.

Lawyer Garth Dallas wants firms to make diversity and inclusion a major theme in all the aims of the Northern Powerhouse.

To deliver that objective, Garth developed the Diversity and Inclusion Business Forum and organised its full-day conference at the recent International Business Festival in Liverpool.

Garth believes the time is now right, with Brexit looming, for Northern companies and organisations to fully embrace diversity and inclusion – for both business and ethical reasons.

He said: “We’re calling on Northern business leaders to look at their supply chains and ask how many of those firms are run by women, black people, people with disabilities or elderly people?

Garth Dallas

“In the long run it will benefit business. There is a measurable return on investment.”

Garth wants the Northern Powerhouse to have an Inclusive Procurement Standard.

With the Diversity and Inclusion Forum, his goal is for the organisation to become a membership group that attracts Northern Powerhouse partner companies and other organisations committed to the Forum’s charter.

According to Garth, the Powerhouse should also develop an annual diversity and inclusion business awards to celebrate companies that “practice what they preach with diversity”.

He continued: “It’s certainly not about ticking boxes. It’s about making businesses more efficient and getting the best skills base from the widest possible workforce, and that means including people who have hitherto been excluded.”

Northern Powerhouse Business Summit is taking place July 4-6 as part of the Great Exhibition of the North.