UNITED KINGDOM
The UK Government’s Deputy Race Champion, Selvin Brown (pictured) has welcomed new measures to make Senior Civil Service (SCS) recruitment panels more diverse.
Mr Brown said it would help to break down some of the barriers to the progression of Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) officials in the Public Service.
“A requirement for all SCS boards to include at least one member who is either disabled or from a BAME background demonstrates the iterative approach the Public Service is taking to boosting diversity,” Mr Brown said.
Mr Brown, who is also Director of Engagement and Policy at the Health and Safety Executive, said efforts to increase diversity in Government had sped up significantly in the last two years, thanks in part to the launch of the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy in 2017.
Last year, then Director-General at the Digital Agency Kevin Cunnington said that since mandating every interview panel include at least one BAME panellist, the number of BAME candidates had almost doubled.
“The candidates say that when there’s somebody like you interviewing you, you feel you can be yourself, and that helps the confidence of candidates,” Mr Cunnington said.
Mr Brown said this statistical evidence was part of what convinced the Civil Service People Board, and Chief Executive of the Public Service, John Manzoni in particular, to mandate the inclusive boards.
He said this process illustrated how the Public Service was working towards the Diversity and Inclusion Strategy target of 13.2 per cent of new SCS recruits to be BAME (reflecting the make-up of the wider UK population) by 2025.
London, 4 October 2019
