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the police, the teaching profession and academia, especially when you get to the higher levels? It’s a national problem that needs to be taken seriously and tackled.” He describes the root causes as “lack of social mobility,


educational inequality, health inequality, institutional racism, overt personal hostilities. There’s also going to be an element of self-censorship going on. People think ‘that’s not for someone from my background’ and therefore are not going for careers they could pursue.” Solutions included organisations recognising that diversity was not just “a nice thing” but was “essential to their economic viability”. Rees adds, vehemently: “Diversity matters. It gives you an economic advantage. Organisations need to introduce good-quality work experience to benefit from the huge pool of untapped diverse talent available to them … not just fire fight today’s crises in inner-city schools.” What about the debate around the government’s welcome


inclusion of a diversity clause in its BBC charter renewal white paper – should there be employment targets enforceable by law, with penalties for executives if they are not achieved? At first, Rees is the cautious politician: “I don’t know. I wouldn’t necessarily go there.” However, using a sports metaphor – he is a keen jogger – he adds: “What I would say is it’s a matter of competence … If you have a senior leadership that is unable to recruit a diverse workforce and are not putting the right players on the pitch, that’s a matter of competence. You’d get rid of a football manager if they weren’t putting the right players on the pitch.”


Marc Wadsworth is chair of the NUJ’s Black Members Council


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