OPENING UP MORE PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS TO BRITONS WITH DISABILITIES

We want to see more Britons with disabilities on the boards of Regional Development Agencies, NHS Trusts and all the other 1100 national and regional public bodies in England and Wales. This is not because the men and women concerned are disabled; but because UK plc should be making better use of all the talent available. This is not about political correctness. We are not promoting quotas or tokenism. Rather, it is about creating a virtuous circle: more disabled Britons successfully serving on the boards of public bodies will help break down the stereotypes, the limiting (and sometimes self-limiting) assumptions about what someone who happens to have a disability, can do. It will also help to challenge disablism (an ugly word for an often unrecognised prejudice) and encourage the next generation of Britons with disabilities to be even more ambitious and less accepting of the disabled equivalent of glass-ceilings.

WHY PUBLIC APPOINTMENTS
Why focus on public appointments? Well, there already is a policy objective to make public bodies more representative of the Britain they serve. It is a manageable universe - and one where anecdotal evidence suggests there is still unconscious discrimination. One highly successful businessman and veteran of a number of high profile public appointments was aggressively challenged at interview for a public appointment recently, as to how he would be able to cope because of his disability. To paraphrase, it is not institutionalised disablism. It is more likely to be an insidious mixture of too many disabled people not putting themselves forward for public appointments; when they do so, they may be knocked back or so treated that they decide it is not worth the effort. In some cases - and this needs separate examination - those in receipt of disability benefits may feel precluded from accepting public appointments because of the knock-on effect on their benefits. In some cases, disabled individuals will need more relevant experience; and / or interviewers and headhunters may need to revise their own criteria of how someone demonstrates relevant experience and track-record. None of this, is to minimise the achievement of those disabled Britons who do serve with distinction - and not just on disability-related bodies. Some of these individuals are profiled elsewhere in this report.

In parallel with this practical initiative, the Government needs to be encouraged to establish base-line data on the number of disabled people that already serve on public bodies. It would also be helpful if the Office of Commissioner of Public Appointments (OCPA) could evaluate the operation of the guaranteed interview scheme (whereby candidates for public appointments self-identifying as disabled - if they meet minimum eligibility requirements for the appointment - are guaranteed a first interview). OCPA could also review the impact of its Short-term Working Group on Disability. This included representatives from disability organisations and disabled individuals themselves. The Group looked at barriers which might prevent disabled people from applying and made a number of recommendations for improvement in its report of 13th January 2004. In response to the Group's finding that too few disabled people knew about public appointments opportunities, OCPA published a case studies booklet 'Disability: Public Appointments and You' in April 2004. Alongside the new Commissioner for Public Appointments: Janet Gaymer CBE, who took up office earlier this year, there will be a series of Commissioners - and one of them might be encouraged to adopt this project as a specific project to champion / be sponsor for inside the system..

WHO NEEDS TO BE INFLUENCED
Four groups need to be influenced to make progress with this initiative: (a) executive search firms; (b) civil servants and chairs for public appointments; (c) possible recruits; and (d) sources of mentoring and other help.

- Executive search firms: need to challenge unconscious disablism when working with clients on job and person specifications for post; they need to review their own procedures to ensure that they are being creative in looking for evidence of past achievement and potential in the cvs of disabled candidates; and to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made for interviewing disabled candidates. They also need to check that their own websites and those of clients advertising public appointments are accessible to blind and partially sighted individuals.
- Civil servants and chairs of public bodies: watch for unconscious disablism when drawing up on job and person specifications for posts; think creatively about where / how posts are advertised; when appointing headhunters ask for evidence that the firm is proactive in encouraging diversity and "walks the talk" on this; ensure that reasonable adjustments are made for interviewing disabled candidates; and be willing to modify board processes (eg regular breaks in meetings) so that disabled Britons can participate. Be willing to allow disabled Britons to "work-shadow" a board member so that they can experience what it is like to serve on a public body.
- Disabled Britons: be proactive, put yourself forward and be ready to hoover up advice and support when available, to help boost self-confidence and experience where necessary.
- Individuals including disabled Britons already serving on public bodies and organisations including businesses with employee volunteering programmes: be prepared to volunteer time and experience to mentor and to talk about personal tips for success and for operating on public bodies.

THE PROPOSAL
The proposition is to:
- Identify with the help of organisations like Common Purpose, the Association of Disabled Professionals, the professionals listing of RADAR, Social Enterprise Coalition, Leonard Cheshire Empowerment Programme and disability charities generally, an initial group of 30-50 disabled Britons - ideally a mixture of (a) individuals ready for national public appointments; (b) those ready for local and regional appointments; and (c) individuals with long-term potential but meantime needing support to broaden their experience.
- Work with each individual to assessment their "public appointment readiness" and then to agree a customised Personal Action Plan. This may include rewriting cvs, mentoring to boost self-confidence; public-appointments "work shadowing" or introductions to boards of voluntary organisations to give the individual more relevant experience of serving on a board.
- Run a "Public Appointments Boot Camp" where experienced disability rights campaigners with personal experience of public appointments, can share their "war stories" and techniques for operating successfully in this environment. The Association of Americans with Disabilities in the USA, do something similar to build capacity with Microsoft sponsorship. The arts and disability organisation SHAPE have recently run a training course for Londoners with disabilities interested in serving on the boards of arts organisations.
- Identify a number of target public appointments of interest to the individuals participating in the programme, publicise when these public bodies are recruiting and help interested individuals in their preparation for interviews.
- Track this initial cohort of Tomorrow's Leaders over an 18-24 month period, review learning and make recommendations to the headhunting profession, OCPA, Government and disability organisations for what further actions would further open up public appointments to Britons with disabilities.

LEARNING FROM EXISTING INITIATIVES

There are several initiatives already in existence or just starting, from which to learn and with which to collaborate. Some of these initiatives aim to broaden career opportunities and expand horizons for Britons with disabilities specifically; or for a wider diversity group also including women and Black and Ethnic Minority (BEM) Britons. There are also initiatives to recognise and support the growth of social change campaigners and at least one project to get more BEM Britons on to public appointments. The arts charity - Shape - which exists to open up the arts in London to disabled people both as participants and as audience - has recently piloted a training day for disabled Londoners interested in serving on the boards of art charities.
Some of these are summarised in the annexe below. As far as we are aware, there is nothing specifically targeting disabled Britons for public appointments.

Talent generally Diversity Disability
General mentoring /career development Rowntree Foundation Visionaries;
Sheila McKechnie Foundation Fellows;
Business in the Community: Partners in Leadership in the Community Minority Matters for BEM;
Hays INclusion Network Employers' Forum on Disability Wildfire Initiative
Non-profit board appointments Shape; Arts and Business BoardBank
Public appointments Common Purpose initiative with 30 BEM Alumni;
Learning Skills Council and Cranfield School of Management training course for BEM women

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

- Identify (self-identify) talented disabled Britons who might be interested in participating in this initiative
- Volunteer to mentor, provide public appointment "work shadowing"
- Host / support a "Public appointments boot camp"
- Review selection process for any public appointment you are personally involved in / responsible for, to ensure it is "disability-friendly"
- As a headhunter, volunteer your time to do reviews with disabled Britons as to their "public appointments readiness" and help them to develop a personal action plan - which the initiative can support the individuals in pursuing
- Host the programme.

David Grayson CBE
David Grayson writes, speaks and advises on responsible business and global trends. He is a director of Business in the Community, the former chairman of the National Disability Council and a Patron of the disability charity Scope. He writes here in a personal capacity. www.davidgrayson.net
A fuller version of the concept paper is available from Carbon.

SOME OF THE ANALOGOUS INITIATIVES FROM WHICH TO LEARN

Sheila McKechnie Foundation www.sheilamckechnie.org.uk -set up to honour the life and work of the late Sheila McKechnie, through identifying and supporting social change campaigners. The first Fellows were announced in March.The Foundation have some senior newspaper editors, think-tank bosses etc who have volunteered to be linked with the Fellows for customised and personalised package to help Fellows become more effective campaigners. NB No cash - but high profile support

Rowntree Foundation "Visionaries" - centenary Bursaries - cash + networks to help individuals campaigning for some environmental or societal change - awarded June 2005. www.jrct-visionaries.org.uk

Minority Matters -has an internship programme - involving around 30 young BEM. This meets several times each year and provides dinners, receptions, mentoring, peer-group support networking etc to broaden horizons and provide contacts for participants.

Employers' Forum on Disability's new Wildfire - This will provide customised support for 15 individual Britons with disabilities, at a time. EFD have confirmed that they would like to work with any initiative to provide help for disabled Britons to secure civic appointments - and would see such a programme as one of the resources to signpost participants to. www.employers-forum.co.uk

BITC's Partners in Leadership in the Community (twinning business leaders and community entrepreneurs for mentoring) www.bitc.org.uk

Coverdale Leadership Programme late1980s - early 1990s -for talented young Britons with disabilities. This had three elements:
- Good quality general management and leadership training
- Professional mentor
- Gave participants exposure to a network of talented Britons with disabilities

New Common Purpose initiative to identify and help 30 black Common Purpose alumni into public appointments - essentially "putting the Common Purpose brand on the individuals concerned and using the CP network to push" ie the participants are deemed to be ready already. Common Purpose describe it "very exclusive," "ruthlessly headhunted" and "direct action." There should be potential in future, to join forces or at least agree collaboration - especially eg in helping to extend to disabled Common Purpose graduates (nearly 1% of CP graduates are disabled - there are now 4500 graduates p.a. in UK - 18,000 overall. ) www.commonpurpose.org.uk