The
Government has launched a new drive to recruit more black and ethnic minority
staff to work on public bodies.
The
Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) hopes to
identify a pool of potential ethnic recruits, provide more information about
specific opportunities and enable candidates to learn from those already in
office.
The
DTLR has also held a conference to identify some of the barriers preventing
ethnic minorities from applying and hopes to implement some job shadowing.
Appointments
minister Sally Keeble said there needs to be greater diversity in public life,
especially where budget decisions affecting communities were managed.
She
told delegates at the Public Appointments seminar that ethnic minority groups
are more likely to live in poor areas, be unemployed or have low incomes and
struggle with poor housing but are still under represented in the public
domain: "Public services must be more responsive to the different
priorities of our communities. Public bodies should reflect the diversity of
communities to be able to identify different views and circumstances," she
said.
"We
still need to strive for greater equality and diversity if we are to have fully
representative bodies. I believe much of this can be achieved during the next
few years."
