Your report (Revealed: Britain’s most powerful elite is 97% white, 25 September) on the low representation of black and ethnic minority groups among Britain’s most powerful people omits public appointments, where the picture is slightly more positive. As commissioner for public appointments, one of my roles is to champion diversity in the roughly 2,000 public appointments made each year by, or on behalf of, ministers to the boards of public bodies and to various public offices. The latest figures for 2016-17 show that just over 9% of appointments and reappointments were made to black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates, with 10.2% of new appointments going to BAME candidates against a BAME population of some 14%. While this is still not good enough – and only 5.2% of chair positions are made to those declaring as BAME – it suggests that the position is not totally negative.

From my discussions with Whitehall departments and others I would, however, agree with many of the points made about the obstacles holding back BAME candidates: a lack of confidence and, in many cases, knowledge about the opportunities. Moreover, BAME candidates who make it to the interview and appointment stages worryingly do less well than their white counterparts. From my observation there is no shortage of suitably qualified BAME candidates and I am encouraging government departments to do more to expand their networks and put in place mentoring and shadowing schemes as NHS Improvement has been doing successfully for several NHS trusts. Some 45.5% of appointments and reappointments were made to women in 2016-17, a roughly 10-point improvement on only five years ago. Which goes to show that with sustained focus, real improvements in the diversity of our institutions is entirely possible.

Peter Riddell

Commissioner for public appointments

• News that only 3% of the UK’s most powerful people are from ethnic minorities is a worrying statistic. UK businesses have an important role to play in changing this. We are the sponsor of the world’s first Social Mobility Employer Index, a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation and the Social Mobility Commission. It ranks the top 50 UK employers who have taken the most action to improve social mobility in the workplace, incentivising firms to improve access to top-quality jobs and experience for candidates from socially diverse backgrounds. Research shows that people from a narrow range of backgrounds take a disproportionate number of the best jobs and that employers disproportionately employ graduates who went to private schools and elite universities. This needs to change. Ethnic background should not determine career success and it’s in everyone’s interest to level the playing field.

Catherine McGuinness

Policy chairman, City of London Corporation

• A strong and timely article by Simon Woolley (Open up the elite: brilliance comes in all colours, Opinion, 25 September), and his concerns about opening up access to elite universities are well made; but stating “the fact that 50% of the 2014 intake for Oxford and Cambridge University was taken from five private schools” is hugely wide of the mark. If it were true, then some 3,000 undergraduates would have to come from these five schools, meaning those schools would on average have sixth forms of around 1,200 each (across both years) with 100% success rates on entry.

The 2016 Sutton Trust report annexed to the BBC programme to which he refers actually says that 40 schools and colleges provided about a quarter of Oxbridge entrants, and that a 2011 study showed that five schools (three private, and two elite sixth form colleges) produced as many entrants as 1,800 state schools and colleges across England. Neither are statistics to be proud of, but your fact-checkers should have spotted this one before it went into print.

Julian Dickens

Ashford, Kent

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