Lord Bhatia co-founded and is the chair of the Ethnic Minority Foundation, which encourages ethnic minorities to become involved in voluntary sector organisations.

He is a trustee of many charities including Oxfam and St Christopher’s Hospice, and sits on the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations (CEMVO).

He sits on the Prime Minister’s Advisory Committee for the Queen’s Awards, and is a crossbencher in the House of Lords. He chairs the Forbes Trust, and has a background in the financial services sector.

He has also been a judge for the Charity Awards. In 2003 he received the Beacon Fellowship Prize for his leadership role in tackling social deprivation and exclusion.