BBC has got its sums wrong over trans staff

You reported last week that the BBC has 417 transgender staff, more than one in 50 of the workforce. This is approximately four times higher than the transgender proportion in the population at large. Diversity is a big issue for the BBC, but we pay for the Corporation and surely its workforce should be more representative of our population as a whole. That should be at the forefront of minds at the BBC.

Also I worry that, by overemploying people from these less representative categories, the rest of the population is missing out. James Smith, London

In your article about transgender staff at the BBC, Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt was quoted as stating that the transgender issue is one of the most important facing society today. While I sympathise with those who wish to change gender, for the vast majority of British people it would not feature in the top 20 or more problems that concern the rest of us. What about crime, Brexit, defence, trade, the NHS, immigration, the closure of shops on the high street, pensions, etc? StJohn Cox, Taunton

Tunde Ogungbesan, the BBC’s head of diversity, mentioned ‘changing thought processes’ in a Westminster meeting on transgender issues. To me this sounds like brainwashing, something George Orwell would recognise. Frightening. D. N. Harris, Fareham, Hampshire

As almost a quarter of the 21,239 staff declined to reveal their orientation, the BBC should ignore the findings of the survey that revealed the 417 transgender staff. And how many of those completed it honestly? Before the BBC spends a fortune of licence payers’ fees altering the toilet arrangements in all offices, I suggest it employs a medical team to interview all employees one to one. A ridiculous suggestion? Of course it is, and most employees would refuse. Geoff Parr, Maidstone

I see the BBC head of diversity himself was stunned by the number of transgender staff employed in the Corporation. And there was I thinking it was a basic mandatory requirement on the job application forms… John Procter, Norwich

The BBC does not represent the views, concerns and aspirations of the British people, and we should not be compelled to fund it. Chaka Artwell, Oxford

So the BBC is exceeding a politically correct target concerning transgender staff. It also appears to have over-achieved on the amount of correspondents it has. When the World Cup is over, I would like to see how much it spent on the tournament and the amount of staff it had in Russia compared to ITV. Not forgetting it has the luxury of the indirect taxation with the TV licence that we pay. We could sell it off and the money could go to the health and police services. Victor Philip O’Rourke, Formby, Liverpool