The good, the bad and the downright racist on employment equality for Black Minority Ethnic people in Scotland

Recent research looking at most of the major players in Scotland's public sector gathered data that these organisations published this year and which showed how many Black Minority Ethnic [BME] people were on the payroll.  For any of these organisations to show whether racism has been eliminated from their cultures and practices would require two simple things. 

Firstly, an open acceptance and acknowledgement that it, just like the Metropolitan Police force back in the days when Stephen Lawrence was alive, is institutionally racist. Secondly, that it now employs a reasonable proportion of workers who identify as BME and who occupy positions at all levels in the hierarchical structure.

Reading all the reports which organisations are required to publish this year on progress with their duty to eliminate race discrimination, you will find no such acceptance, no such acknowledgement that there is or even that there has been institutional racism in any organisation.

As for the proportions of the workforce who identify as BME ? Read the table below - based on data published by the organisations themselves - and decide for yourself whether the profile of Scotland's public sector of over 488,000 workers represents a place where the deep roots of racism are being dug out or cultivated through neglect.