Five government departments have no senior ethnic minority staff according to the latest figures available from the Cabinet Office the CRE revealed today.

With the exception of the MOD, all departments have ethnic minorities in their total workforces that represent the population. "The good news is most departments are making progress in building up a representative workforce, and in some cases they are taking strides towards promoting minority staff into the upper tiers of management. If we look more closely at the figures we see that ethnic minorities are mainly concentrated in the lower ranks. The upper echelons of the civil service remain out of reach for most ethnic minority civil servants," CRE Chair Trevor Phillips said.

"We need to question whether the targets set by Whitehall - of 3.2 per cent for 2005 - raised the bar sufficiently. The performance between departments varies widely. While some are doing well, others don't seem to be getting the message. They should see that it can be done and get on with it," Mr Phillips said.

Representation at ground level and the lower slopes is more even - with an average number of 9.7 per cent ethnic minority employees across all departments and an average of 2.8 per cent for senior staff. However there are 12 departments where fewer than two percent of senior staff are from ethnic minorities.

Speaking at the launch of Towards Racial Equality, a major survey into how public bodies have responded to new duties placed on them under the Amended Race Relations Act, Mr Phillips said: "Across the both public and private sectors we have what I call the 'snowy peak syndrome'. A mountain represents an organisation's workforce. At the base you find large numbers of women and ethnic minority workers whereas at the summit you find a small amount of white, middle class men."

Under the amended Race Relations Act, around 43,000 public bodies have a legal duty to eliminate unlawful discrimination and promote equality of opportunity and good race relations between people of different racial groups. This new research which was carried out by Schneider-Ross consultants involved sampling approximately 3,300 bodies to assess the nature, extent and quality of response from public authorities to the new statutory duty to promote race equality. The study had a 47% response rate (with a lower response rate of 20% from schools). It shows glaring gaps in ethnic minority representation at senior management level.

KEY FINDING OF THE 'TOWARDS RACIAL EQAULITY' REPORT

On the positive side:

• 70% said the race equality duty has already produced positive benefits, it is improving wider policy making and service delivery
• The top third show that the race equality duty works and are giving a sense of moving things on. They are creating a sense of good practice that others will be able to follow.
• Between 83% and 99% of bodies had produced a Race Equality Scheme or policy at the time of the survey (varies by sector).
• 84% had taken the first steps of prioritising their work for relevance to race equality.
• 70% have identified some outcomes to achieve - however, around 30% have yet to identify outcomes.
• The survey found a particularly encouraging response from local government.
• The survey also found encouraging evidence on setting outcomes in the Criminal Justice Sector.
• The survey found some good practice in small authorities and rural areas.
• The survey also found a clear correlation between leadership and progress on this agenda. The more active the senior leader, the more substantial the progress.

On the less positive side

• A group of organisations are not responding effectively to the legislation. Six months after the deadline, some authorities had no scheme or policy in place.
• Overall 30% of public authorities have not set outcomes that they will work to achieve. In education this increases to over 50% of education bodies not identifying any outcomes. There is a need for many organisations to set outcomes and to focus work here.
• The survey found that public bodies gave limited attention to promoting good race relations.
• The survey also found that the progress in implementing the Employment Duty varies considerably across bodies.
• The survey also found few authorities were focussed on furthering race equality in procurement and partnerships work - these are levers for change that are currently under-exploited.

" The snowy peaks won't melt overnight, but if there is a real commitment to equal opportunities and fair employment practices from the top we can reverse this trend. There are whole departments with no ethnic minorities in senior levels. This is alarming. After 25 years of legislation - and talking about ending racial discrimination - its time to make it happen. Good intentions are not delivering real results in terms of representation at the top." added CRE Chair Trevor Phillips.

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