The percentage of Greater Manchester residents who identify as black is less than 5%. I’m not saying there isn’t an issue here but you need figures at Greater Manchester level to get a clear picture of what is going on. This is sensationalist journalism thrown out by London types, quoting other London types who don’t know what they’re talking about and don’t have the gumption to look a bit deeper into the subject.
It’s obviously the thing at The Guardian at the moment what with their hatchet job last week, to have a go at Manchester.
Mark - interesting point re: GM % but I don't think I agree that their analysis is misleading. It's true - as Brian mentions in his comment below - that some of these institutions are GM-wide (like GMP), and that should have been mentioned and factored in. But it seems fair to take the Manchester population % and compare it to Manchester institutions. If you looked at institutions across the whole of GM (MPs, local authorities etc) the % in leadership might be even lower.
Except that that doesn’t account for the likelihood that successful people in these posts may have moved from Manchester to a bigger house in a leafier suburb outside of Manchester, in Trafford or Stockport for instance.
If you catch the Tram from Altrincham to Manchester in the morning you can see the numbers of affluent Traffordians commuting to the City Centre to work.
It’s a bit like comparing the ethnic makeup of top execs working in Canary Wharf and expecting that to match the Tower Hamlets demographic.
At the very least they should make clear the institutions they are including. It may well be that Manchester has a representation issue greater than that of Liverpool's or Bristol's but there's no way to be sure of that based on their muddled data. It's very Guardian in that it seems have been put together by people who don't know the city.
The Guardian are mixing their data up. They are using the black % population of the Manchester council area to extrapolate what the diversity make up should be of Greater Manchester-wide institutions like GMP, and institutions based in other boroughs, like Manchester United.
If Andy Burnham is really attempting to increase diversity in terms of leadership in Manchester, it will be a welcome development and long overdue.
However, diversity strategies alone do not automatically eliminate bias and guarantee a level playing field. The current Tory Cabinet is the most diverse in recorded history, but unfortunately its attitude towards migrants is dragging the UK backwards in terms of progress towards a more equal and cohesive society.
Recruitment at senior leadership level is still often based on who you know rather than what you know and this acts as a barrier to diversity overall, not just that of ethnicity, and I query whether there is sufficient - or indeed any - monitoring of equal opportunities in recruitment practice at that level.
Hypocrisy is the biggest failing in UK leadership, both in local and national government. Many fine words and worthy goals have been expressed over the years regarding diversity, but little to nothing ever changes because leaders tend to want to appoint people who look like them, talk like them and walk like them.
Still, I remain hopeful that my cynicism - developed over many years employment in the public sector - will be proven to be misplaced if not now, then in future.
I agree with the commenters above about the need to clarify Manchester versus Greater Manchester stats, and Manchester versus Greater Manchester institutions. The 2021 census shows about 12% of the population of Manchester proper is Black, as well as about another 3% who identify themselves as 'mixed' and specify that part of their heritage is Black (people in this group will ultimately define their identity in various ways, obviously.) On the basis of these figures one area that I think is pretty obviously unrepresentative is Manchester city council, which ought to have at least 11 Black councillors, whereas it currently has 4 by my reckoning. (One of whom quit the Labour party blaming, among other things, the racism of her colleagues - which might indicate where the roots of the representation problem lie.)
The percentage of Greater Manchester residents who identify as black is less than 5%. I’m not saying there isn’t an issue here but you need figures at Greater Manchester level to get a clear picture of what is going on. This is sensationalist journalism thrown out by London types, quoting other London types who don’t know what they’re talking about and don’t have the gumption to look a bit deeper into the subject.
It’s obviously the thing at The Guardian at the moment what with their hatchet job last week, to have a go at Manchester.
Mark - interesting point re: GM % but I don't think I agree that their analysis is misleading. It's true - as Brian mentions in his comment below - that some of these institutions are GM-wide (like GMP), and that should have been mentioned and factored in. But it seems fair to take the Manchester population % and compare it to Manchester institutions. If you looked at institutions across the whole of GM (MPs, local authorities etc) the % in leadership might be even lower.
Except that that doesn’t account for the likelihood that successful people in these posts may have moved from Manchester to a bigger house in a leafier suburb outside of Manchester, in Trafford or Stockport for instance.
If you catch the Tram from Altrincham to Manchester in the morning you can see the numbers of affluent Traffordians commuting to the City Centre to work.
It’s a bit like comparing the ethnic makeup of top execs working in Canary Wharf and expecting that to match the Tower Hamlets demographic.
At the very least they should make clear the institutions they are including. It may well be that Manchester has a representation issue greater than that of Liverpool's or Bristol's but there's no way to be sure of that based on their muddled data. It's very Guardian in that it seems have been put together by people who don't know the city.
Yeah I agree they should have made that clear and admitted that things like GMP aren't just Manchester.
The Guardian are mixing their data up. They are using the black % population of the Manchester council area to extrapolate what the diversity make up should be of Greater Manchester-wide institutions like GMP, and institutions based in other boroughs, like Manchester United.
Does that number include students too? Our student population is massive and very diverse, but most are not permanent residents of the city.
If Andy Burnham is really attempting to increase diversity in terms of leadership in Manchester, it will be a welcome development and long overdue.
However, diversity strategies alone do not automatically eliminate bias and guarantee a level playing field. The current Tory Cabinet is the most diverse in recorded history, but unfortunately its attitude towards migrants is dragging the UK backwards in terms of progress towards a more equal and cohesive society.
Recruitment at senior leadership level is still often based on who you know rather than what you know and this acts as a barrier to diversity overall, not just that of ethnicity, and I query whether there is sufficient - or indeed any - monitoring of equal opportunities in recruitment practice at that level.
Hypocrisy is the biggest failing in UK leadership, both in local and national government. Many fine words and worthy goals have been expressed over the years regarding diversity, but little to nothing ever changes because leaders tend to want to appoint people who look like them, talk like them and walk like them.
Still, I remain hopeful that my cynicism - developed over many years employment in the public sector - will be proven to be misplaced if not now, then in future.
I agree with the commenters above about the need to clarify Manchester versus Greater Manchester stats, and Manchester versus Greater Manchester institutions. The 2021 census shows about 12% of the population of Manchester proper is Black, as well as about another 3% who identify themselves as 'mixed' and specify that part of their heritage is Black (people in this group will ultimately define their identity in various ways, obviously.) On the basis of these figures one area that I think is pretty obviously unrepresentative is Manchester city council, which ought to have at least 11 Black councillors, whereas it currently has 4 by my reckoning. (One of whom quit the Labour party blaming, among other things, the racism of her colleagues - which might indicate where the roots of the representation problem lie.)