Diversity
The Commissioner and OCPA are
committed to opening up the public appointments process to as wide a range
of people as possible. Since March 2002 the Commissioner has been given
formal responsibility for encouraging equal opportunities in respect of
appointments to public bodies.
The Commissioner is involved in a number of initiatives and outreach events
throughout the year. She regularly meets and presents information to
targeted groups to encourage a wide range of people to apply to be
considered for public appointments.
A major OCPA
initiative in 2003/04 was the Commissioner’s establishment of a Short-term
Working Group on Disability. This included representatives from disability
organisations and disabled individuals themselves. The Group looked at
barriers which might prevent disabled people from applying and made a
number of recommendations for improvement in its report of 13th January
2004. In response to the Group’s finding that too few disabled people knew
about public appointments opportunities, OCPA
published a case studies booklet ‘Disability: Public Appointments and You’
on 1 April 2004. This booklet shows the wide range of disabled people who
are already making a significant contribution to public life, in the hope
that it will encourage other people to apply. It is available free from
OCPA in a
variety of formats including audio tape, Braille and large print. (Email
ocpa@gtnet.gov.uk or telephone 0207 276 2625).
Further information on the Short-term Working Group on Disability and other
OCPA
diversity initiatives is shown in OCPA annual
reports (please refer to the publications section of this website).
The Cabinet Office and other government departments are also committed to
increasing diversity in public appointments. Here is a link to the Cabinet
Office Public Appointments Unit publication ‘Improving Diversity in Public
Appointments’, which gives information on departments’ progress against
their diversity targets and information on their initiatives to encourage
greater diversity in public appointments.
