Sir David Normington, Commissioner for Public Appointments (OCPA), hosted a diversity round table discussion on 26th March 2014 in London with representatives from diverse communities. The Commissioner was keen to investigate the reasons for the dramatic decline in black and minority ethnic (BME) representation on public sector boards. He stated, “As you know people from BME backgrounds are neither applying for nor getting public appointments in sufficient numbers. In 2012-13 only 5.2% of public appointments were made to candidates from a BME background; this is down from 7.2% in 2011-12. It is, of course, Government and Government Departments who make public appointments, but as the regulator, I can and do exert some influence.”
He added “I would like to use this workshop to gain representative’s views on what is preventing BME candidates from applying and what are the barriers to more people being appointed. What are your experiences of applying for public appointments and your perspectives of dealing with public bodies, recruitment consultants and Departments? My aim for our discussion is to come up with a number of practical and immediate actions that we can work with those making public appointments to implement.”
Among the invited guests were Jeremy Crook OBE, who leads the Black Training and Enterprise Group (BTEG),a national charity that works to improve education, skills, employment and entrepreneurship outcomes for Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities; Anthony Heath CBE who is a Professor of Sociology at Oxford University and a Professorial Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford; Shaama Saggar-Malik, an independent organisational performance and executive development consultant who is also the founder-director of Diversity in Public Appointments (DIPA), an organisation dedicated to helping individuals improve their chances of success in securing public appointments; Debbie Weekes-Bernard who is Head of Research at Runnymede; Rajinder Mann OBE, Chief Executive of the Network for Black Professionals (NBP) – the UK wide social justice organisation; Lopa Patel MBE who is a digital media entrepreneur and also the Founder & CEO of equality and inclusion think tank Diversity UK; Dilip Joshi MBE, a seasoned professional with extensive senior level management experience who is currently Chair of Diversity UK; Patricia Cumper MBE who is an award-winning playwright, producer, director, arts administrator and cultural leader who is a passionate advocate for the arts, particularly the BAME arts sector; Naaz Coker, whose career in the public and voluntary sectors spans forty years and who was most recently Chair of St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust until 2011; Bala Mahendran, Chief Executive of Basildon Council; Dhruv Patel, who is currently a Councillor for the City of London (Aldgate) and a board member of the East London NHS Foundation Trust; Amerdeep Somal, an independent assessor to the Financial Ombudsman Service and an Audit committee member of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation; Peter Reichwald, a Senior Consultant specialising in Government and Public Services at Harvey Nash Plc and Evelyn Asante-Mensah OBE, who was most recently Head of Equalities and Economic Inclusion for the Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA). The round table was also attended by members of the OCPA and the Centre for Public Appointments teams.
For further information about OCPA, please visit:
http://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/
For further information about OCPA’s equality and diversity strategy, please visit:
http://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/what-we-do/promoting-equal-opportunities-and-diversity/