Buckinghamshire's Lord Lieutenant wants to see Aylesbury businesses support the 'socially disadvantaged'

Lord Lieutenant Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher said he knew of many organisations that have supported people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds in improving their job skills and their chances of finding work.

And the Promoting Opportunity category of the Queen’s Awards for Enterprise was just the way to recognise this.

"This year the emphasis is on enabling organisations whose core aim is to provide opportunities for others, and also those with a social mobility programme, to be recognised and celebrated," said Sir Henry. "I would love Buckinghamshire to be flying its colours in this category."

He said the Queen's Award for Enterprise has made it more straightforward for organisations to demonstrate how they have supported socially disadvantaged people in improving their job skills and their chances of finding work, and to provide evidence on the impacts and benefits of their interventions.

"The Queen’s Awards differ from personal honours such as OBEs and MBEs in that they recognise management and employees working as a team to benefit not only the enterprise but also their local community and country by their achievement," said Sir Henry.

Organisations can nominate themselves by visiting https://www.gov.uk/queens-awards-for-enterprise/how-to-apply and submitting entries by the closing date of Wednesday 9 September.

Earlier this year four Buckinghamshire companies were presented with the Queen's Award for Enterprise. Three, in the international trade section, were Dage Precision Industries, of Aylesbury; International Dance Shoes, of Milton Keynes; Origin Frames, of High Wycombe. The fourth, in the sustainable development category, was Hypnos Beds, of Princes Risborough.

The Queen's Award for Enterprise web page contains a list of 18 socially disadvantaged categories to help organisations with their applications:

https://queensawards.blog.gov.uk/2020/07/20/the-queens-awards-for-enterprise-launches-refocused-promoting-opportunity-through-social-mobility-category/