Ethnic minorities press for a fairer deal in public sector

Britain's ethnic minority community is represented at the highest level in other walks of life, such as law, the arts and banking, but when it comes to public sector bodies there is a woeful lack of diversity, a new taskforce claims

Ethnic minority leaders in the UK have criticised the government's implementation of diversity policy on public appointments.

At a recent meeting supported by Cemvo, a charity committed to extending opportunities to people from disadvantaged communities, leaders from a wide range of public, private and voluntary organisations concluded that while the government's policy on diversity is good, its delivery has been poor and glass ceilings remain in place that make it hard for women and those from black and ethnic minorities to rise to the highest levels of leadership in the public sector and on public bodies.

"Britain's ethnic minority community as a whole, has a wealth of talent, skills and experience that it can bring to improve efficiency, effectiveness and value-for-money in the provision of public services", comments Dilip Joshi, leader of the Hindu Council UK taskforce, which recently launched its strategyon public appointments.

"By organising this event, we are actively seeking the participation of political leaders, the civil service and public sector organisations themselves in an open dialogue and constructive development of plans to improve black and ethnic minority representation at the highest levels in the sector.

Hindu Council taskforce

The Hindu Council's taskforce has made a number of recommendations to the Government Equalities Office and the Cabinet Office on ways to increase representation of women and those from a black and minority ethnic background in the public sector and on public bodies, including a complete stop of all five-year appointments, a limit on public appointments positions that an individual can hold to a maximum of two roles concurrently; and legislation to bring all public sector appointments, rather than the present level of 30%, under the regulation of the Office of the Commissioner of Public Appointments.

Diverging views were expressed at the event about the best way to tackle the continuing problem of ensuring greater diversity across all public services. Keynote speaker Baroness Sandip Verma acknowledged that a glass ceiling does still exist in Whitehall and on public bodies, but exhorted those from a minority or ethnic background to work together and improve opportunities for the whole community.

Deepti Patel, a trainee solicitor and trustee of the Interfaith Youth Trust, said that while the glass ceiling was being broken in the private sector, it was still firmly in place in the public sector. "It has taken time, hard work and legislation but both men and women from our community have broken through the glass ceiling in the private sector in this country," she said. "We have members of the community as celebrated authors, academics, economists, actors, artists, senior post holders in banking and financial institutions, board members of FSTE100 companies, GPs, consultants, engineers, accountants, lawyers, pharmacists, musicians, and members of both houses of parliament."

In comparison, she said, "senior public appointments have been blocked from experiencing the same levels of growth in diversity".

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