The BBC, Priest Holes, the Tardis, and the Magic Roundabout

Research shows that some organisations in Scotland's sprawling public sector are quite good when it comes to employing Catholics and offering evidence that sectarianism can be eliminated in the employment functions of the public sector.  Organisations like Skills Development Scotland and Scottish Enterprise had, as at April 2013, 16.4% and 15% of their workforce identifying as Catholic, setting a benchmark for the rest of Scotland.

Sadly, they are the exception rather than the rule, with just 10 Scotland's 32 councils gathering data on the religious identity of their workforce.  Just one council, Dundee, managed to match the best, with 15.84% of its workforce identifying as Catholic.

Scotland's NHS fares little better, with just 2 health boards managing to come close to the benchmark, while the average employment rate for Catholics across all 22 health boards was a paltry 7.63% at April 2013.

In Scotland's 16 universities, just 3 managed to publish data on the level of employment of Catholics in their workplaces.

Not a pretty picture of Scotland, where the issue of sectarianism, so readily understood and recognised when it erupts around football matches, is an issue which dare not speak its name when it comes to jobs in the public sector.

Given the place of the BBC in society, with its capacity to shape and form opinion, whether through news reporting or through programme content, it seemed germane to have a look at its performance as an employer.  

After several months of searching online and more recently in direct contact with the BBC Trust which handles workforce diversity in the BBC, it emerges that the BBC does not gather data on whether workers are Catholic, Protestant or other, confining itself to asking if they identify as Christian.  Except of course in Northern Ireland.  Even in Northern Ireland, they did not publish the data gathered on their 682 staff there, but will do so from now on [or 'going forward' as management-speak would have us say].

Astonishing.  A UK-wide organisation with around 20,000 workers [not easy to get the precise number] and which plays a major role in informing and shaping the political discourse, does not routinely gather data which would allow it to analyse whether its employment culture and practices are free from sectarianism.  The BBC has, belatedly, accepted the link between its programme content and output and how well it performs in eliminating racism and seems willing to change.  It has workforce equality targets for BME people, disabled people and gender, but nothing on sectarianism.

It is some 400+ years since the persecution of Catholics in England was such that they dared not celebrate Mass, even in their own home.  Priest holes were created in many homes to allow people and their priests to, covertly, celebrate Mass and provide, in the event of a raid, somewhere to hide while the house was searched for the priest or where the vestments could be quickly hidden.  It is as if the BBC has created a 21st century equivalent of priest holes [a variant on the Tardis, perhaps] and so convinced themselves, in another twist to that classic British [mis]-management strategy, that if Catholics are not there it does not need to check if they are being discriminated against.  

Those of you lucky enough to have grown up with the BBC's Magic Roundabout as part of their transition from child to adult, will recall Dougal and how he usually brought the episode to an end with 'Time for bed'.  Wonder if we need to get Dougal back for a meeting with the BBC Trust, and this time end the meeting with 'Time to count the Catholics and Protestants'.

Time to count the Catholics and Protestants