The Welsh Government has asked the Wales Centre for Public Policy (WCPP) to support its work on increasing the proportion of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic and disabled people who are appointed, in order to correct a current under-representation in the Welsh Government workforce.
In particular, the Welsh Government is interested in the following areas within recruitment:
- Identifying different interview and assessment models used by other organisations within and beyond the Welsh public service;
- Identifying differing approaches to job advertising, outreach, and communication of roles and details about the organisation; and
- Understanding the potential uses of positive action, including guaranteed interview schemes across a range of protected characteristics, in recruiting and appointing candidates.
WCPP has previously conducted evidence reviews and held roundtables looking at ways to encourage diversity in recruitment. These reviews have not specifically looked at recruitment to the civil service or the wider Welsh public service, apart from high-level public appointments, but include evidence transferable to these contexts.
To support and augment the evidence WCPP has already collected, we are holding a roundtable event for the Welsh Government to bring together academic and practice-based expertise that will be focussed on the three areas outlined above. The roundtable will be held in the context of the Welsh Government’s existing commitments, including the use of the social model of disability; recruitment commitments made in the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan; and changes to recruitment practices which have already been made.
The key points from the roundtable will be summarised in a short briefing note which WCPP will prepare and publish after the event.