ONS Faith and Belief Network, Office for National Statistics
The co-chairs of the All Belief Network at the Office for National Statistics (ONS), Jaspreet Gakhal and Paul Thomas, are dedicated to tackling misconceptions and raising awareness of religious and non-religious faiths and beliefs. For Interfaith Week in November 2019, they chose the theme ‘Building Bridges’. The theme and its aims were agreed with the ONS Faith and Belief champion, Peter Benton, who was so supportive that he highlighted the ‘Building Bridges’ theme to the Civil Service’s Faith and Belief Champion, who in turn adopted this across the entire Civil Service. Working with other diversity networks, Jaspreet and Paul’s passionate call to increase inclusivity resonated and all were keen to work together to make Interfaith Week a success. The calendar of events was an outstanding achievement where personal stories were shared, understanding raised and connections made.