The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has agreed to press the Government to adjust the law on equality to allow for positive action in recruiting more women and BAME officers to the Met Police.
The Mayor was responding to questions from Sian Berry AM in the London Assembly, and this action on recruitment was a key commitment in the Green Party manifesto for London earlier this year.
During the campaign Sadiq Khan had said he would not be seeking to change the law to allow for preferential recruitment of equally qualified female and BAME officers, but today agreed, in response to questioning, that he would lobby Government to amend the provisions within the Equality Act (section 159) from requiring ‘equal merit ‘ to ‘equally qualified’ recruits.
This would enable positive action in ‘volume recruitment’ – ie recruiting preferentially from underrepresented groups when a number of applicants within a pool meet the high standards required.
Sian says:
“Londoners need to see a Met that looks and feels like them and, after many years of slow progress, radical positive action is needed. Problems with attracting the best, most representative, talent to the Met make a sensible change in the law vital to allow for positive action.
“Similar measures worked to make Northern Ireland’s police service more representative of different religions, and this change would also help other industries that are struggling to represent the public, including the media and other public services. I’m delighted that the Mayor has changed his mind and committed to campaign for effective action and a change in the law today.”
Currently only a third of the total Met workforce are women and there are still just over 12 per cent BAME officers compared with around 40 per cent in London’s population. In 2014, the Assembly Police and Crime Committee recommended that: “MOPAC should open up dialogue with Government around the feasibility of implementing a law change in the future if the Met is unable to recruit more BAME officers in the next two years.”
With those two years now up, the Mayor today agreed to press for the change needed to make real positive action happen.
- Read more about the policy in our BAME manifesto launch
- Watch the Assembly Plenary webcast here from 1h 53m