Wales has a diverse population but this is not always reflected in public life.
As a Government, we are committed to doing everything possible in order to improve the
diversity of our public leaders, including the diversity of public appointments.
We must make the most of the wealth of talent, knowledge and creativity across our diverse
communities, and in doing so ensure that our public appointment opportunities are promoted
more widely across the country and that individuals wishing to undertake these roles are offered
the support and development to succeed.
That is why I’m delighted to have launched ‘The Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for
Public Appointments in Wales’.
This strategy is about ‘Reflecting Wales in Running Wales’.
It focuses on appointments to Boards of regulated bodies, but we hope the principles will be
adopted by non-regulated bodies too.
In Wales, we have become better at recruiting women to Boards, but we know we need to do
more to attract disabled people and those from ethnic minority communities to apply
and obtain Board positions.
Our initial work will focus, in particular, on helping disabled people and those from
ethnic minority communities to achieve Board positions.
We will do this by
raising awareness of the opportunities available through targeted outreach work and
by developing mentoring and shadowing schemes, coaching people so they are ready to apply
for and obtain board positions.
We will also review the recruitment process to ensure it is as inclusive as possible.
Implementing the strategy is a key priority if we are to achieve greater diversity on
our boards.
Unless we change what we do, we will not achieve different results.
I am committed to driving forward an inclusive culture across public boards in Wales.
Last year, I highlighted that the number of people from ethnic minority backgrounds appointed
to roles in public life here in Wales was simply not good enough.
So I am delighted that the ‘Diversity and Inclusion Strategy for Public Appointments
in Wales’ has been launched.
3% of people from Black, Asian & Minority ethnic communities have been recruited to
public appointments in Wales.
We need to do better - not only for those from minority ethnic communities themselves, but also
for disabled people who are woefully under-represented on the boards of our public bodies.
One of the aims of the strategy is to build a pipeline of interested individuals, who
can be mentored, coached and supported,
so they are ready to apply and obtain a Board position. And that for me is really welcome.
The Ethnic Minorities & Youth Support Team has a mentoring scheme in place for young
people from ethnic minority communities.
We need to ensure similar schemes are in place for people from other under-represented groups too.
As the Health Minister, I am keen to see
a much greater diversity on the boards of our health Trusts and Local Health Boards.
That will help us to make decisions that better reflect the needs of our citizens
right across Wales.
I will be reinforcing this message again to the Chairs of Local Health Boards and Trusts
and I hope that they will work with us to achieve this change. And I absolutely believe they will.
In Wales we have increased the number of women on boards and I am confident we can do the
same for other under-represented groups.
So let’s ensure we ‘Reflect Wales in Running Wales’.