§ Dr. IddonTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has for making Commissioner appointments to the Commission for Racial Equality. [45702]
§ Mr. BlunkettI am pleased to announce that I have today appointed seven commissioners for the Commission for Racial Equality.
The appointments are:
Khurshid Ahmed, who is currently a non-executive director of Dudley Group of Hospitals National Health Service Trust;Ian Barr, who will represent the interests of the Confederation of British Industry and is the co-founder and managing director of Astar Management Consultants Ltd;Jagdish Singh Gundara, who is currently Professor of Education at the Institute of Education, University of London;Kay Hampton, who will represent Scottish interests and is currently a lecturer in sociology at Glasgow Caledonian University;Gloria Mills, who will represent the interests of the Trade Unions Congress and is currently the Director of Equalities at UNISON;Cherry Short, who will continue to represent Welsh interests at the Commission, andSarah Spencer who is the Director of Citizenship & Governance at the Institute for Public Policy Research.The appointments will initially be for four years.
The role of the commission is central to the drive for securing equality for all our citizens, and cohesion between diverse communities of our country. I want the commission to make a real difference to community relations in the years ahead.
In addition to these seven new appointments I will be recruiting two further commissioners with significant experience of working in the community to help support the commission"s priority of building links with communities and particularly with young people.