My statement was as follows at 32:27 minutes
It has been over 2 years now since the Lisvane Report was written and, for me, one of the main issues relating to the journey from humble citizen to Lord Mayor has yet to be resolved.
Lord Lisvane summed up the current situation:
‘You need to be a member of several Livery Companies, preferably Master of one; then you need to be elected as an Alderman, and then go forward to be a Sheriff. The minimum period between becoming an Alderman and being Lord Mayor is six years, and the average is longer than this. So, you have to ask people if they are interested in becoming Lord Mayor in about eight years’ time.’
The undoubted challenge of the diversity of the Mayoralty was also addressed in the report which has overwhelmingly, been held by white men and only two white females. Nevertheless, Lord Lisvane was ‘glad to hear that the Court of Aldermen is aware of the challenge’ and there is an ‘expectation’ that ‘there is a fairly imminentprospect that this will change’.
Had I been around when the report was written in 2020, I would have rolled my eyes upwards in disdain at Lisvane upon reading this underwhelming and uncommitted response, knowing full well that change was not ‘fairly imminent’ as was originally signalled.
Two years on, this would have proved to be the correct reaction, especially in relation to ethnic diversity, as the Court of Aldermen still only has three out of 25 members of BAME heritage. In fact, the highly competent and qualified Baroness Scotland retired her position having been an Alderman for 8 years however we never seemed to tap into her strengths during her time in order to attract other potential Sheriffs and Lord Mayors from BAME backgrounds. This was a missed opportunity and, if you look at the current trajectory, I can’t even see it happening in the next eight years unless drastic action is taken. People from ethnic backgrounds make up about 46% of London’s population so it is too late already.
This issue is especially important for the Court of Alderman who are essentially the external face of what the UK brings to the rest of the world and, with the imminent economic tidal wave that is coming from nations such as India and Bangladesh, we are going to need to have more in-house support to give us the edge in negotiations over the competition. Moreover, we are also trying to stay the main attraction for foreign firms looking to take their business here and, if we are going to keep this pull then change is crucial. Companies currently led or owned by people of Indian origin alone have a market capitalization of more than $6 trillion, just over 10% of the total market cap of all companies listed on the NASDAQ. These include Adobe, Microsoft, IBM, Starbucks, and Google. Heavy hitters like these are the types of companies we want to attract and remain here. They know what it takes to successfully evolve and have improved their organisations’ diversity accordingly.
Are we just going to continue to sit here blindly in our red gowns, or do we want to take advantage by positioning ourselves properly now?
Lord Lisvane went on to suggest that if the present process does not deliver both quality and diversity then we need radical change. Well, it hasn’t delivered on ethnic diversity in two years and is unlikely to come in the next eight years. Baroness Scotland summed up the situation perfectly in her resignation letter read to the Court last year and which I circulated to members via email prior to this Court meeting.
In short: “Diversity will be a critical necessity, as opposed to a nice to have, if more than just survival remains the aim.”
We have clearly started to address this issue amongst us blue-gowned folk with the 40 new and ethnically diverse spread of Common Councillors in 2022. This is a direct result of when an organisation has the urgency to change in the face of numerous established barriers. We now need a tailored and unified plan for the Court of Alderman and, as this issue is essentially about ethnic diversity at senior leadership level (and thus a leading value of the Corporation) I do hope the Policy Chair, as our de facto leader does not tell me it is not within their power.
I therefore challenge the Policy Chair to produce an actual and accountable plan with targets and, not just awareness and expectations, within 6 months today of how we are going to address the issue of ethnic diversity within the Court of Aldermen and, by extension, our Sheriffs and Lord Mayors?
