Thames Valley Police has joined 800 other employers and signed up Race at Work charter.

The Business in the Community (BITC) initiative encourages businesses to commit to improving equal opportunities for Black, Asian, Mixed Race and ethnically diverse employees in the UK.

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Dennis Murray QPM, assistant chief constable at Thames Valley Police, said: “Thames Valley Police has been and will continue to focus on these complex issues and through our localised Police Race Action Plan we will put in place demonstrable activity to ensure everyone internally and externally is protected, respected, involved and represented.

“Signing this charter helps show our officers and staff that we are committed to delivering sustainable change and equality of opportunity for all our ethnically diverse employees.”

Launched in 2018, the Race at Work charter builds on the work of the 2017 McGregor-Smith Review.

This review found that people from Black, Asian, Mixed Race and ethnically diverse backgrounds are still underemployed, under promoted and under-represented at senior levels.

Findings from BITC’s 2021 Race at Work Survey revealed while 76 per cent of employers said that race recruitment and progression was a priority, only 46 per cent had set targets to improve the racial diversity of their boards.

The charter commits organisations to improve equality by taking steps such as appoint an executive sponsor for race, capturing ethnicity data and publicise success and support race inclusion allies in the workplace.

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This story was written by Sophie Perry. She joined the team in 2021 as a digital reporter.

You can get in touch with her by emailing: sophie.perry@newsquest.co.uk

Follow her on Twitter @itssophieperry

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