Buckingham Palace Says It Has Improved on Employee Diversity But Can Still Do Better
Last year, Buckingham Palace published its diversity statistics for the first time and pledged to do more to improve on the then 8.5% of ethnic minority employees within the household. Today, the Palace has given an update on its progress, sharing that it now has 9.6% of employees from ethnic minority backgrounds with a target of 10% by the end of this year.
“Last year we also disclosed for the first time the proportion of ethnic minority employees in the royal household at 8.5%,” The Keeper of the Privy Purse and treasurer to the Queen, Sir Michael Stevens, told reporters during the annual royal finances briefing. “We set a target to get that to 10% by the end of 2022 and at the end of March we were at 9.6%. While good to see some improvement we are very conscious that the results are not quite where we want them to be, but it remains a real focus for everyone in the household.”
The report cites that the household has “continued to emphasise the importance of Inclusion, Diversity and Equality.” It describes how a “listening exercise” to understand employees’ views was conducted with an Inclusion and Diversity consultancy. “The feedback from the associated surveys and focus groups was used to develop a new Inclusion and Diversity strategy. The lifting of the recruitment freeze has provided the opportunity to attract new talent from a diverse range of candidates,” the report states.
The Palace did not have any information to make public this year on diversity statistics for different levels and pay scales of the organization, but one aide said that this could be disclosed in the future. “When we talk about diversity and you just see a bland percentage figure it is important to understand where that diversity is. And the fact that we are looking at diversity at all levels of the organization, and that is something that we are very conscious of, and that’s something that we will be working on in terms of presenting that information in due course," one source said.
The information was laid out in the annual Sovereign Grant report, which primarily outlines how the royal household has spent the lump sum it receives from UK’s public purse for the previous financial year. The money is used for royal travel and the running and maintenance of official royal residences and work. This latest report covers the period from April 2021 to March 2022, during which time the royals received £86.3 million, £34.5 million of which was dedicated to the ongoing 10-year refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
You Might Also Like
