| Lancashire Care marks 
Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week 2017 
 LANCASHIRE Care NHS Foundation Trust is 
marking:- 'Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week' next week with a 
series of events for its ethnic minority staff to talk about opportunities for 
the Trust to have an even more inclusive workforce. 'Equality, Diversity 
and Human Rights Week' is marked every year, and 
runs from 15 May to 19 May 2017, with NHS organisations across the country celebrating the 
week with events. As part of this year's week, which is being run for the 6th 
time, Lancashire Care has organised four events for Black, Minority Ethnic (BME) 
staff to join a conversation about how the organisation can increase 
opportunities and foster a more inclusive workforce.
 An electronic survey has also been distributed to all ethnic minority staff to 
gather information about their experiences of working Lancashire Care, and the 
results of this and the conversations with staff will be used to inform how the 
organisation ensures that it is a diverse and
  inclusive NHS employer.  
Damian Gallagher, Director of Human Resources 
at Lancashire Care, said:- "As part of Equality, Diversity and Human 
Rights Week this year, we've distributed a survey to our ethnic minority staff 
and organised a series of events to hear what our ethnic minority staff say. 
What we are doing is all about valuing individuals, ensuring equal access and 
opportunities for all and working towards removing discrimination and other 
barriers to development." 
 Julie Ann Bowden, Associate Director of Compliance and Assurance, who is leading 
the project, said:- "The NHS is a caring organisation that considers race 
equality a priority for its staff. Equality, engagement and motivation leads to 
better health for our staff and better health outcomes for patients, communities 
and the wider population that we serve. Ensuring we have an inclusive workforce 
at Lancashire Care is not an optional extra."
 
 Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week is a national platform for 
organisations to highlight their work to create a fairer, more inclusive NHS for 
patients and staff. This year's theme:- 'diverse, inclusive, together' was 
chosen to reflect the move across the health and care sector towards 
collaboration and integration.
 |  | North West kids burn 
	10,000 donuts worth of calories during Big Pedal  OVER 2.4 million calories (the 
	equivalent of over 10,000 donuts) were burned during Sustrans 'Big Pedal;'
	the UK's biggest challenge of its kind to get more young people cycling and 
	scooting to School, backed by double Olympic champion Joanna Rowsell Shand.
 The 10 day challenge saw pupils, parents and staff leave the cars at home 
	with more than 1,000,000 journeys across the UK being made by bike or 
	scooter.
	In the North West of England, 93 Schools registered to take part in 'The Big 
	Pedal,' which has been running since 2010.
	Participants travelled over 133,000 miles by bike and scooter; that's over 
	5 trips around the world; and saved almost 33 tonnes, or over 2 million 
	balloons worth, of CO2 being emitted by cars.
	With 3,396 gallons of fuel not being used on the School run, parents also 
	saved over ₤18,500 on petrol.
 
 Rosslyn Colderley, Sustrans Director for the North of England said:- "We're delighted so many Schools took part in this year's 'Big Pedal,' which 
	demonstrates the change that can be achieved when people choose to cycle or 
	scoot instead of travelling by car. At 1.6 miles, the average Primary School 
	journey is a distance that can be walked, scooted or cycled as an easy way 
	of building more physical activity into our busy lives.
	The numbers speak for themselves; travelling in this way makes a real 
	difference to our children's health, our environment and our pockets."
 Sustrans who are celebrating its 40th 
	Anniversary throughout 2017 asked YouGov to carried out a pole, that found 
	out that 9% of 
	the UK's parents say their children get the recommended 60 minutes of 
	physical activity a day.
	According to Government guidelines, children and young people aged 5 to 18 
	need at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day:- 'to maintain 
	a basic level of health.'
 Walking, scooting or cycling to School would help children get their 
	recommended hour of physical activity a day and maintain a healthy weight.
 
 Parents, however, have cited the need for improved infrastructure, such as 
	wider pavements and better crossings, and enhanced road safety among their 
	top priorities before allowing their child to walk, scoot or cycle to 
	School.
 
 Sustrans is calling on Schools and Local Authorities in England to use the 
	money from a levy on soft drinks to help more children walk, scoot and cycle 
	the School journey.
 
 The charity would like to see Governments elsewhere in the UK commit 
	additional funding from the soft drinks levy to support active travel.
 
 'The Big Pedal,' which took place at the end of March 2017, was powered by national 
	walking and cycling charity Sustrans and funded by the Bicycle Association 
	on behalf of the cycle industry through its Bike Hub scheme.
 
 For more information and a list of the overall winners click on
	
	
	here.
 
 For more 
	information about the charity's achievements over the last 4 decades 
	visit:- 
	
	Sustrans.Org.UK.
 |