Our thanks to Graham for this. He writes:
“I thought you might be interested in the attached article from the Daily Express regarding HS2’s diversity-related spending.
A few extracts that stood out:
Joanna Davinson, the HS2 board member [J4MB: she’s a non-executive director] responsible for diversity, wrote that EDI “shapes how we think, lead and build the railway.” [J4MB: Maybe that helps explain why it’s a financial disaster.]
In the last financial year, £61 million was spent on diverse-owned suppliers – an increase of more than a third from the £44 million last year. This mainly involved businesses owned or majority-controlled by women and ethnic minorities.
The report states: “We define minority-owned businesses as those where women, ethnic minorities, LGBT or disabled people make up more than 50% of the partners or directors in day-to-day control of the business, or where a sole proprietor is from one of these groups.” [J4MB: I spend almost all my career in procurement. These businesses are landing contracts where otherwise they wouldn’t have, probably because their prices are uncompetitive.]
A spokesman for HS2 Ltd said: “We take our statutory commitments under the Equality Act seriously and set high standards for the thousands of businesses actively engaged in our supply chain. Through fair and inclusive recruitment practices, we are proud to have built a 33,000-strong workforce where female and ethnic minority representation exceeds industry averages.”
I’m curious about what statutory commitments under the Equality Act the HS2 spokesperson is referring to. The Act doesn’t mandate positive discrimination, so it’s unclear how their approach aligns with the legal framework set out in the Equality Act 2010.”
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