Herman Ouseley, Baron Ouseley

Herman George Ouseley, Baron Ouseley (born 24 March 1945) is a British parliamentarian, who has run public authorities, including local councils and is an adviser and reviewer of public services organisations. Lord Ouseley has expertise in equality and diversity issues and is the Chairperson of several charitable organisations as well as being a Patron for dozens of organisations. He has been at the forefront of challenging institutional racism in organisations and is an advocate on behalf of individuals from disadvantaged and deprived backgrounds.

Early life

Ouseley was educated at the William Penn School in South London and Catford College, where he received a Diploma in municipal administration.

Government officer

He was a local government officer between 1963–1993, working at Chief Officer level; was chair and chief executive in the Commission for Racial Equality from 1993 to 2000. Since 1996 he has been a director of Brookmight Security and from 2000, of Focus Consultancy Ltd. He was the Managing Director of Different Realities Partnership Ltd between 2000–2005 and, since then, has been operating as a self-employed management consultant undertaking reviews of organisations' performance and assignments in pursuit of equality and diversity outcomes.

Ouseley has thirteen honorary degrees from the Universities of Edinburgh, Sheffield Hallam, Bradford, Leicester, Leeds Met., Warwick, Oxford Brookes, Greenwich, Southbank, London Metropolitan, North East London, Staffordshire and Brighton.

Knighthood and life peer

He was knighted in 1997 for his services to local government and community relations, and was made a life peer as Baron Ouseley, of Peckham Rye in the London Borough of Southwark on 26 June 2001. He was also included in the 100 Great Black Britons.

Work on racism

In 1993, he set up the project to tackle racism in football and is the Chairperson of Kick It Out, the internationally acclaimed campaign to make football free from discrimination and abuse and to be more inclusive of people of all backgrounds. He Chairs The Chandran Foundation (formerly Preset Education Charity)since 1997, providing specialist education provision for young people with learning disadvantages. He is a Council Member for the Institute of Relations, a think tank focused on challenging injustices and inequalities. He is also on the board of directors of the Manchester United Foundation and is a lifelong fan of MUFC and supports his local team Millwall F.C and Dulwich Hamlet, one of the local teams he played for as a youngster.

Works

• The System (1981)