From the BBC:
“Buckingham Palace reveals
8.5% ethnic minority staff”
Buckingham Palace has said it
"must do more" as it revealed its levels of ethnic minority staff for
the first time. The Royal Household's annual financial accounts for 2020-21
show 8.5% of its staff are from an ethnic minority background. Its 2022 target is
10%. This compares with around 13% of the UK population, according to the
latest 2011 census. The Palace said it was "not where it would like to
be" on staff diversity. "It is not that we have not been progressing
diversity and inclusion initiatives during this period, it is that simply the
results have not been what we would like," a Palace source said. They said
the household had published the figures so there could be "no place to
hide", and so they would be held accountable if no progress was made in
the future. The source added: "Her Majesty and other members of the Royal
Family have actively promoted and embraced the diversity of our nation and that
of the Commonwealth, and we take our lead from that."
Analysis box by Jonny Dymond,
royal correspondent In London, where the majority of royal workers are
based, just under 40% of the population is from an ethnic minority - but 8.5%
of the royal staff are. "Could do better" is the Palace's own
verdict. "We recognise we are not where we want to be and we want to
improve," a senior Palace source said. Next year's target is 10%.
But change may be hard to achieve. While public funding has remained
steady, the extra money the monarch made from things like paid visits to the
palaces fell by half. A £10m shortfall was covered by cutting back on some
events like garden parties and by a recruitment freeze. Without new faces
it is difficult to change the profile of household staff; and the Palace
reckons that Covid restrictions will hit its supplementary income for some time
to come. Raj Tulsiani, co-founder of Race Equality Matters, said the
Palace did not "deserve a pat on the back" for saying it hopes to
improve. "Amplifying aspirations for future inclusion, it's
nothing. It's just words," he said. Pointing out that there was no
breakdown of the 8.5% figure, he suggested there could be a "vastly higher
percentage of people in lower paid jobs than there are in positions of power
and influence". Graham Smith, chief executive officer of campaign group
Republic, which calls for an elected head of state, welcomed the publication of
the data but said staff were "not protected from race
discrimination". "There is no justification why anyone should be
given an exemption from workplace discrimination laws, particularly our head of
state," he said.
The release of the data comes
more than three months after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex made allegations of
racism within the Royal Family. Prince Harry and Meghan's interview with Oprah
Winfrey in March included claims they had been asked how dark their son's skin
would be before his birth. The duchess said there had been "concerns and
conversations about how dark [Archie's] skin might be when he was born". Both
Prince Harry and Meghan refused to say who made the comment - but Harry later
clarified to Oprah that it was not the Queen or the Duke of Edinburgh. In
response, Buckingham Palace described those issues as particularly
"concerning", saying they would be "taken very seriously and
will be addressed by the family privately". The Duke of Cambridge later
said the royals were "very much not a racist family" in response to
questions about the interview. Buckingham Palace introduced a change to its
Diversity Strategy in early 2020, before the interview, to emphasise inclusion.
After the Winfrey interview, sources said Buckingham Palace was reviewing
diversity policies across all royal households.
'Determined to do better' The
work is looking at improving diversity at Buckingham Palace, Clarence House -
the Prince of Wales's household - and Kensington Palace - Prince William's
household. A Clarence House senior spokesperson said its proportion of
ethnic minority staff was also 8%, adding: "It isn't good enough and we
are determined to do better." Kensington Palace has not released
its staff diversity figures. Royal sources have previously stressed that
the Palace already has policies, procedures and programmes in place - but
possible changes being considered include the appointment of a "diversity
chief".
What are the royal accounts? The
royal accounts are published annually to detail how the yearly payment the
Queen receives from the government, known as the Sovereign Grant, is spent. Last
year the grant was £85.9m - the equivalent of £1.29 per person in the UK. The
money pays for official royal duties and property maintenance. The
payment is based on the profits of the Crown Estate, an independent property
business that includes much of London's West End. Normally the Queen
receives 15% of the profits. However, that has been increased to 25% until 2027
to help pay for a £369bn refurbishment of Buckingham Palace.
Key figures from the royal
accounts for 2020-2021:
£85.9 million - The total
taxpayer-funded Sovereign Grant, made up of £51.5 million for the
"core" funding and an extra £34.4 million for the re-servicing of
Buckingham Palace
113 - Official engagements
carried out by the Queen in the last financial year - 183 less or a decline of
62% compared to the 296 carried out in 2019-2020
Almost 1,470 - Official
engagements by the royals in the UK and overseas
508 - Full-time equivalent staff
paid for from the Sovereign Grant, with the wage bill coming to £24.1 million
£900,000 - Cost of housekeeping
and hospitality for the Royal Household - a fall of £1.7 million or 65%
£3.2 million - Cost of official
royal travel, a fall of £2.1 million - 40% - from £5.3 million the previous
year
£47,965 - Cost of travel for
William and Kate's royal train tour to Scotland
^ It’s nice to see the Royal
Family being open about all of this – even if it is a little late. ^
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