Diversity
70. The Annual Performance Report states that "despite
continuing efforts, we continue to find recruiting proportionately
from UK ethnic minority groups to the Armed Services difficult".[99]
Although overall Service black and ethnic minority representation
(including Commonwealth recruits) increased to 5.5% at 1 April
2006 (from 5.3% at 1 April 2005), none of the Services met its
individual Service target for black and ethnic minority recruitment.
By Service, the black and ethnic minority intake was: RN 2.0%
(target 3.5%, 2004-05 2.3%); Army 3.6% (target 3.9%, 2004-05 3.7%);
RAF 1.5% (target 3.6%, 2004-05 1.5%). The Services have a target
of 8% black and ethnic minority representation by 2013.
71. If it were not for the recruitment of black and
ethnic minority Service personnel from the Commonwealth, the situation
would look even worse. Figures provided by the MoD show that 1.1%
were recruited from Fiji and 0.5% from Jamaica.[100]
72. Recruitment of ethnic minorities at officer level
in all Services has barely increased over recent years. On 1 April
2003, black and ethnic minority personnel represented 2.5% of
officers, on 1 April 2006 the figure was 2.4%.[101]
By Service, the figures for the Royal Navy and Army remained steady;
for the RAF, representation fell.[102]
73. When we asked the MoD why the Services had failed
to reach this target for ethnic minority intake, Mr Jeffrey replied
that:
It's not for the want of trying. We need to think
quite hard about how we impact on that part of the population…whether
it is to do with perceptions about the Armed Forces being a good
organisation to join I do not know.[103]
Mr Jeffrey insisted that the Service Chiefs were
personally committed to achieving increased black and ethnic minority
representation in the Services.
74. We
are very disappointed by the MoD's poor performance against its
diversity targets. The UK Armed Services should reflect the people
it serves and despite years of good intentions, the MoD has failed
to achieve this. In addition the MoD seems to have little grasp
of the reasons behind its failure to recruit black and ethnic
minorities in sufficient numbers. We look to the MoD to give the
issue of black and ethnic minority recruitment greater priority
and recommend that it conduct research into why the Royal Navy
and RAF in particular are failing to recruit sufficient numbers
of ethnic minorities. We also recommend that the MoD learns from
the experience of other organisations such as the Police who have
increased their intake of ethnic minority personnel over recent
years.
75. The Annual Report states that women comprise
over 9% of UK Regular Forces and over 9.5% of the total intake.[104]
It does not provide a breakdown of these figures by Service
or by rank. We asked the MoD for information on the number of
senior officers who were women. The table below shows the numbers
of female senior officers as at 1 April 2006:
