Do WASPs still run Scotland's public sector ?

Scotland has a fine tradition of challenging power, and nowhere more obviously than in who owns Scotland, with numerous books and websites devoted to the issue.  While any decent socialist analysis of power-sharing would always look at land ownership as an indicator of just how much power-sharing there really is and how much privilege remains in the hands of the few, we rarely look closely at who actually runs Scotland's public sector.  Given the public sector has a £multi-billion budget and employs almost half a million people, this is an odd oversight.

not so diverse, a tad pale, dominated by suits and
imbued with good old Presbyterianism.  WASPs.

When talking about running the public sector, it is important to be clear that government farms this job out to public appointees, people appointed by various ministers to work in partnership with senior paid staff and deliver the public services that Scotland needs.  That is the theory.  It would be reasonable to expect those groups sitting round the board tables of public sector Scotland to be a diverse, egalitarian group, especially when it is kept in mind that they are appointed by government ministers.

When looked at through the lens of equality, the reality of who runs Scotland becomes clearer; not so diverse, a tad pale, dominated by suits and imbued with good old Presbyterianism.  WASPs.

Women are not really welcome in
Scotland's public sector boardrooms

Using data provided by government itself, you will find that women have just 35% of the 574 seats there are in running Scotland.  If the boards were to reflect the number of women in Scotland, they should have 51% of the seats.  The most basic arithmetical analysis suggests women are not really welcome in Scotland's public sector boardrooms.

Disabled people in Scotland make up 20% of the population.  Around the board tables, there is room for just 67 seats being taken by disabled people, just 12% of those available and some 48 seats short of what might be termed proportional representation.  Disabled people are absent in significant numbers from the strategic decision making on the nature and structure of public services in Scotland.  

Visible minority ethnic [VME] people give Scotland a vibrant diversity in so many ways and yet when it comes to the work in overseeing the strategic direction of public services in Scotland, they are allowed just 16 of the 574 seats available, 7 seats short of what could be termed equal access to power-sharing in Scotland's public sector.  

Another dimension to the power of these boards is the position of board chairperson, again an appointment made by government ministers.  On a purely arithmetical basis,

racism in the public sector will not be eliminated
while WASPs control the boards of the public sector

proportionality would mean that VME people would be chairperson in 3 of Scotland's 78 boards.  The reality is that a VME chairperson exists in just 1 of those 78 boards.  All the evidence points to lingering racism in the culture of political appointments in Scotland.  Bad enough in itself, this also means that the work supposed to be being done on race equality across the public sector has a strategic oversight which remains overwhelmingly white.  It is fair to say that racism in the public sector will not be eliminated while WASPs control the boards of the sector.

In the area of sexual orientation, government has managed to achieve a profile of board members which is the reverse of other trends identified for other equality communities.  There are 22 Lesbian, Gay or Bi-sexual [LGB] people at seats around board tables, 3 times the number required to demonstrate equality of opportunity.  

The final area examined in this research is the experience of people who are Catholics.  It remains one of those areas where Scotland appears to be reluctant to engage and yet evidence in employment data suggests there are very real barriers to Catholic people gaining equality of opportunity in access to and development of careers in the public sector.  At the strategic level in running Scotland's public sector, Catholics should have around 16% of the seats but in fact have just 8%, some 45 seats short of fair representation.  In comparison, Protestants have 177 seats, very close to the 186 seats proportionality would provide.  Sectarianism in the public sector workplace is unlikely to be eliminated when the strategic leadership on equality is dominated by Protestants.

Aristotle's musings on equality included the following :

"If liberty and equality, as is thought by some, are chiefly to be found in democracy, they will be best attained when all persons alike share in government to the utmost."

Scotland's disabled people, VME people and Catholics do not alike share in government to the utmost.  Government must be called to account for having allowed this hierarchy of inequality in how it runs its business to emerge.