Parveen Hassan, Equality Diversity and Community Engagement Manager, Crown Prosecution Service

Parveen joined the Crown Prosecution Service in 2002. As group equality, diversity and community engagement manager, she won Best Female Employee at the British Asian Hafta Awards 2009 for her leadership and delivery on community engagement.

Despite being in middle management, Parveen steered chief crown prosecutors and violence against women prosecutors to understand the need to engage with different communities for effective consultation from traditional engagement models. Parveen led the project with South Asian communities on honour-based violence, forced marriages and domestic violence.

Parveen has championed community ambassadors, delivering a two-day Community Engagement Staff Training programme. She monitors their work in the community and evaluates methods of delivery to ensure actions are taken forward. Parveen has also been nominated by the service provider Birmingham and Solihull Women’s Aid on her work with Somalian women.

Parveen has gone the extra mile with victims and witnesses, ensuring national policies are driven locally with staff and community involvement. She is currently working with young people in schools as a mentor for Mosaic, the Muslim-led Network in her additional personal time; mentoring young people together with Mosaic; and working on the CPS Community Involvement Panel.

Through her transformational leadership, Parveen has initiated a programme of community engagements which have assisted staff to raise their awareness of the diverse communities that the area serves – and in turn, for the community to increase its knowledge of the role of the CPS, the prosecution process and the support that is available to victims of all crimes. This is illustrative of her determination to improve public confidence in the criminal justice system. Across the joint agencies in the West Midlands, she is now seen as a pioneer in the field of community engagement.