Press Release

Olympic Gold Medal Winner Presents Award

James Cracknell, the Olympic Gold Medal winning rower, presented Mike Roberts, Chief Executive of the Vale Housing Association, with the Association’s Investor in People award at a ceremony in Henley-on-Thames on Thursday 6th November.

Investors in People (IiP) is a national standard which sets out a level of good practice for the training and development of people. It is given to organisations which achieve business goals through a planned approach to setting and communicating business objectives and providing people with the skills, experience and support to meet them.

Steve Russell, Finance Director said, As an organisation, we have always been keen to provide our employees with the opportunities to develop their skills and have a say in the running of the Association but we felt that by working towards and achieving the IiP standard, we were showing not only commitment to our employees but a commitment to all our customers and stakeholders. Our improved working practices mean we can provide an even better service to them.

The Association does not intend to rest on its laurels. The steering group that was set up to co-ordinate the application for the standard has decided to stay together as a driver for further improvement in the practices of the Association. It now goes by the name of the "Improvement in Practice" group thus keeping the IiP theme as a reminder of what they have achieved already.

Notes to Editors

1. The Vale Housing is a Registered Social Landlord providing social housing to nearly 5000 households in the Vale of White Horse, South and West Oxfordshire.
2. Investors in People was first launched in the UK in the early 1990s and is available to companies of all sizes. For more information on IiP please visit their website: www.iipuk.co.uk.
3. The photograph is available as a JPEG at 300dpi.

For further information contact:

Communication and Research Assistant
01235 536001