The focus on managing austerity budgets has tended to obscure the fact that ethnic diversity within the public sector at the senior end appears to have ground to a halt. A recent report by Green Park into diversity found alarming BME under-representation at the upper echelons of Whitehall and local government which it says ‘is so low that it almost defies analysis.'

There is just one non-white council chief executive in London (and he is retiring) and none among the core cities outside London. The report adds: ‘There is less ethno-cultural diversity in local authority leadership across the UK than in the FTSE 100; even the most diverse area of Britain, London, has a lower proportion of visible minority executives than the FTSE100.' Among the general population 13% belong to a minority ethnic group (MEG) and in the core cities 17% but in London the percentage rises to 40%. Yet among the top 20 posts at London boroughs just 7.3% come from multiple ethnic groups with Tower Hamlets at the top. In the core cities 90% of chief officers are white with the most diverse being Liverpool. Among county councils 96.5% of chief officers are white with children's services at 97.1%, adults at 98.9%, environment at 98.3% and corporate resources and finance at 96%. Out of 1,500 senior council posts just 64 are from a black, minority ethnic background (BME).