Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP regularly boast about their commitment to racial equality in Scotland and often attempt to paint the Conservative Party as the enemies of inclusivity and diversity. In the 2021 Scottish Parliament election campaign, Nicola Sturgeon declared that Scotland is “open, welcoming, diverse and inclusive – and no Tory is ever going to be allowed to change that”. However, when it comes to diversity and representation in top company positions and high office, Nicola Sturgeon’s government trails behind the Conservative-led UK Government’s record.
An exclusive report by The Ferret* in 2020 investigated the worrying picture of BAME representation in Scotland’s 48 listed companies. The report found that not one of these companies had a member of the Black community represented on their senior management team, and only six of these companies employed executives from the Asian community. Looking at specific industries in Scotland, the five largest law firms have just five BAME partners between them and there is just one BAME partner working in the Big Four accountancy practices in Scotland. Focusing on our corporate boardrooms, only Scottish Mortgage, Natwest Group, Standard Life Aberdeen, Virgin Money and Plexus have any BAME non-executive members – each with just one member on their board.
In high political office, Scotland still has a long way to go, however, we are moving in the right direction. Before the 2021 Scottish Parliament Election, Scotland had only ever elected four BAME MSPs, all of whom had been Pakistani males from Glasgow. This, however, changed following the election in May, with the Scottish Conservatives successfully electing Pam Gosal and Dr Sandesh Gulhane who are Scotland’s first Indian heritage MSPs, with Pam Gosal being the first woman of colour ever sworn into the Scottish Parliament.
In the Scottish Civil Service, only 2.9% of employees identify as Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic, far off the Scottish Government’s target of 5%. When we get to the top level of the civil service, only 10 of the most senior civil service positions are filled by BAME employees, constituting just 3.9% of positions. Moreover, in 21 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, BAME employees make up less than 1% of staff, with this being as low as 0.1% in some areas.
The picture is different in the United Kingdom, where more has been done to encourage the employment and ambition of BAME individuals, along with helping remove the barriers they face. Across the UK, 51 of the top workplace roles are held by BAME individuals, along with six FTSE 100 companies that have BAME chairs or Chief Executive Officers. In addition, 11% of FTSE 100 directors are BAME. In 2017, over 50% of FTSE 100 companies had no BAME individuals on their boards. In 2020, this figure dramatically decreased to 37%.
In the UK civil service, 13.2% identify as Black, Asian, or Minority Ethnic which is an increase from 4% in 1988, which was still higher than the Scottish Government’s current composition.
While these statistics show that the United Kingdom certainly has a long way to go in achieving racial equality in high office, the fact remains that the picture is far worse in Scotland. The Scottish Government must do better if it is to live up to its rhetoric.
* The Ferret is a non-partisan fact-checking service and investigative journalism co-operative, it is the only Scottish fact-checker accredited by the International Fact-Checking Network.