MAYOR BLASTS DISCRIMINATORY BOARD SELECTION
(20 June 2007)

Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone has lambasted the London Fire & Planning Authority for selecting nine white men for positions on its board. The Mayor said:“For a long time now I have been asking the Conservative and Liberal Democrat groups to come up with nominations to this important public body that would at least begin to approximately reflect the composition of London. They have not nominated even a single black or Asian person - and nine out of their ten nominations are men.

The argument that there is not a single black or Asian person in London from these groups qualified to serve on the board of the Fire Brigade, and that only one woman is qualified to serve on the Authority, is not serious. There are eighty black and Asian Conservative and Liberal Democrat Councillors in London and many hundreds of women councillors.

It is for that reason that I have asked the Conservative and Liberal Democrat Groups to come up with a revised list of nominations to the Board of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority."

Hindu Council UK Backs Mayor on Fire Authority Nominations

The Hindu Council UK (HCUK) is backing the stance taken by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone regarding recent appointments to the London Fire Authority. The Mayor used his mandate of promoting equality to attempt to block nine appointments on the grounds they 'failed to tackle the under-representation of women and black, Asian and ethnic minority Londoners.'

Speaking on HCUK's behalf, Equality and Diversity representative Dilip Joshi said: "We have regular and productive engagement with all political parties within the GLA on the issue of securing fair representation and equality in their appointments and, at all times during this engagement, the consensus of opinion has been that minorities need to be better represented in organisations such as the London Fire Authority, the Metropolitan Police Authority and Transport for London."

"Given that we have been told repeatedly by all parties that they wish to see the diversity of our capital city better represented within the GLA, we have to ask why, from a pool of 293 talented BME councillors across all political parties in Greater London, none were deemed suitable for selection as members of the London Fire Authority''

" 'We strongly urge the Conservative and Liberal Democrat leadership to reconsider their nominations and implement their stated party policies of fair representation. The British Hindu community is well-established and one of the highest tax paying groups in the country and to proceed with such an unrepresentative board may potentially, we feel, lead to the disengagement of our community."