Armed Forces’ diversity drive fails to promote minorities

‘If the Armed Forces stands for anything, it stands for being promoted on merit irrespective of colour’

THE Armed Forces’ controversial diversity schemes have been labelled a failure after no black and ethnic minority (BAME) officers were promoted to the most senior levels of the military.

A Freedom of Information request has shown BAME officers are under-represented at every level in the Armed Forces from colonel in the Army up to general, and the equivalent ranks in the Royal Navy and RAF.

No black or Asian women have been promoted above the rank of major general since 2016, and there are believed to be fewer than five BAME officers at that level. About 95 white officers currently serve at that rank.

The figures obtained by The Telegraph also show that while 180 women are serving at the rank of colonel or above, fewer than 10 come from an ethnic minority.

The disclosure will be an embarrassment for the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which this month admitted to MPs that more than £8million had been spent employing staff working on “inclusion and diversity” between 2019 and 2023.

Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, has ordered a review on the cost and necessity of having a diversity policy.

Ethnic minority personnel make up around 14 per cent of the Armed Forces and a similar proportion in the senior ranks would mean at least 220 black or Asian people serving at colonel and above. There are estimated to be 30.

The disclosure of the spending led to 12 retired senior Armed Forces officers writing a letter to Mr Shapps, which was also published in The Telegraph.

One of the signatories was Col Ewan Southby-Tailyour, who served in the Falklands as a Royal Marine officer.

He said he was not surprised by the figures and added: “If the Armed Forces stands for anything, it stands for being promoted on merit irrespective of sex, colour or religion. No wonder they have a recruitment crisis.”

An MoD spokesman said: “Whilst we have put in place a range of measures to improve our processes, it takes time to grow talent through the organisation to the most senior ranks.

“We will continue doing everything we can to increase our recruiting intake from under-represented groups within the provisions of the law.”