Tim Parker On Women At The GLA

Is Mayor Johnson's chief executive committed to female equality at the GLA? Last Thursday, the following appeared on the pages of Guardian Women under the heading "Boo Hiss Boris".

"Since becoming Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has removed five women from their posts at City Hall, and scrapped the job of women's adviser. Tim Parker, deputy mayor, says it's easier to appoint women to jobs for which few qualifications are needed, and harder to find suitable candidates for more important jobs. So: if you want to be a cleaner, you're in luck. Beyond that (apart from the five they've just fired) there are no qualified women in the whole of London."

This prompted Parker to write a letter to the paper:

"To claim I said women in London are only qualified to be cleaners is utterly ridiculous and wholly incorrect. You misconstrued my comments made to the London assembly last week about recruitment at City Hall. I clearly said it is my responsibility as chief of staff to ensure that people from the right skills background fill positions at the top of the organisation. My comments were in no way anti-women and I am disappointed the Guardian misrepresented them as such."

So who's right? The comment on the women's page was in response to Parker's answer to a question by Labour AM Murad Qureshi at the Assembly plenary the previous week. Their exchange began with Qureshi asking how he intended fulfilling the GLA's duty to promote equal opportunities and good relations between different groups. Their dialogue continued as follows:

Parker: I think we have a level five rating I think in terms of equalities and I'm absolutely behind that and I think, and I know Richard [Barnes AM] here who has responsibilities in that area, we are keen to go further than this. We don't see it as the end of the line, that everything has been done to promote equality around this organisation. As I said before, you know, I'm not there to [do] totemic, you know, gestural things. I believe that we want to really treat anybody from whatever background as the same, but you need the best person to do the job in hand and I don't see, you know, there are some tensions there, but they have to be managed one way or another. And I hope, and it's my sincere intention, that we...maintain our [the GLA's] very good reputation in that area.

Qureshi: I was glad to see that the mayor went to the Pride parade on Saturday...and that he's changed his position to on [gay issues]. But the reality is that in the first wave of job losses here at the GLA in City Hall they have disproportionately affected women, more so than any other groups. Are you aware of that and what amends are you making?

Tim Parker: yeah, Well all I would, let me sort of make a general point for you, yeah, which is that - and maybe you will disagree with me but I'm trying to be open - is that when you go towards the top of an organisation people get paid more money. And for that money you expect them to have a narrower set of skills and therefore you make judgements about whether that person has the right set of skills to do the role. When you go down the pyramid of an organisation you find there are many posts, arguably, where the set of skills is more open to a broader market. And I think it's much easier there to be, you know, if you like you're not...you can get a broad...because there are more people who can fill those posts it's easier, you know, to be more equal as it were.

The narrower you get towards the top of an organisation it actually gets tougher and tougher because the needs of the post have to be taken into account against the range of people available to fill the post. And sometimes as a result of that you will get a situation where there are more women leaving or more people from one group or another. But we are, you know, for me when you get to the top, the sole thing that we must focus on is having the right people for the right slots. And I hope we can all agree that that's the right thing, and that the conclusion you draw is that, you know, that if it doesn't reflect the mix of women [it] is not that were being anti-women.

Qureshi: Well, you seem to be suggesting then that, almost that equality issues do not extend to senior management.

Parker: No, that's not what I'm saying. Again, I can only say to you that if you want an organisation to function effectively you have to trade off the requirements of the post against your desire and in my case absolute...you know, nothing would please me more [than if] we were able to put a range of posts here and were able to say, 'City Hall's great, you know, it's got one of everybody.' Nothing would please me more. But I also have a responsibility, the mayor has a responsibility, the Head of Paid Service has a responsibility, to make sure that the top of the organisation is filled with people from the rights skills background for the posts which are there.

Qureshi ended by asking when the new mayor's equalities plan. Richard Barnes was able to confirm Parker's answer that this would be available "pretty soon."

So that's the plenary stuff. To these insights into Parker's approach I can now add what I'm confident is part of an interview with him carried in the August edition of The Scoop, which is the GLA in-house online magazine. (I'm sure the mayor's office will correct me if I'm wrong.)

Question: What sort of organisational culture do you want to see?

Tim Parker: I find that if you want to get the best out of people you need to set very clear objectives so they know what they're supposed to be doing and then give them responsibility for carrying out their role effectively. I like people to have clear lines of accountability and to push decision taking as far down the organisation as I can.

Often that takes a bit of courage, you can worry that if things don't work out you don't have control over events. But the willingness to let go and allow people to take responsibility for things (and maybe make a few small mistakes along the road… you can't make too many big ones!) is very healthy. You can't run an organisation effectively by spending all your time up here on the eighth floor.

You have to be confident that you're creating an environment in which people are not afraid to tell you what they think. If you're spending money on a programme that's not working you want people to be able to raise their hand and say so without fear of being labelled as unhelpful.

We also want the organisation to be reflective of the community we serve. The GLA should be rightly proud of its commitment to equality. Nothing would make me happier than to be able to boast a top team which was much more diverse. But as the skills requirements for a post get more demanding, the narrower the field of expertise and the less people there are to choose from.

Ideally we don't want to end up with a disproportionate representation of old white guys like me but the most critical determinant must be to select the best person for the role. At the same time we need to continue working on initiatives that open up senior jobs to a wider range of people."

So there's some of the evidence so far. Is Parker a groovy modern guy committed to fair play for women at the GLA or does his commitment to sexual equality begin and end with warm words? Reader, you decide.

Comments

[Helen]

I was intruiged by his comment about "a narrower set of skills". Does that mean he expects people at "the top" to be skilled at avoiding answering direct questions but be devoid of the ability to answer a telephone or use a keyboard?

[angela]

Surely fair play for women means letting them compete on equal terms with men? Tim Parker just wants the best qualified person for the job. I cannot believe that so many people seem to think it is OK to defer to women and make allowances to women because of their sex. To me this is insulting.

[WG Graceless]

Surely either way, what the Guardian wrote was wrong and verging on libelous?

Given the vitriol vented by the Grauniad on the Evening Standard when it published hearsay and rumour about Livingstone, surely there ought to be some admission of hypocrisy?

[votedforken]

Actions speak a lot louder than words.

Pointing to the coverage of Tim Parker's comments on women at the GLA, Dave Hill, asks readers to decide whether Mr Parker is committed to women's equality or whether its just 'warm words'. On the evidence, it's neither.

As Dave reports, Tim Parker says, in the latest edition of the GLA staff magazine 'The Scoop', 'nothing would make me happier than to be able to boast a top team which was much more diverse. But as the skills requirements for a post get more demanding the narrower the field of expertise and the less people there are to choose from. Ideally we don't want to end up with a disproportionate representation of old white guys like me but the most critical determinant must be to select the best person for the role.' http://davehill.typepad.com/london3ms/2008/07/tim-parker-on-w.html

Many readers will be able to decipher right away. For others, note the word 'ideally' when attached to the hope of avoiding under-representation of women.

However, far better than trying to decode test, why not look at the record of Boris Johnson's administration in his short time in office? There has already been a stunning drop in the proportion of women employed at senior levels. In every case at the most senior level in the GLA where a post was held by a woman under Ken Livingstone they have been replaced by a man, or the post abolished, under Boris Johnson. This was the case with the statutory Deputy Mayor (Richard Barnes replaced Nicky Gavron), the head of the Fire and Emergency Planning services (LFEPA, Brian Coleman replaced Val Shawcross), the chair of the London Development Agency (LDA, Harvey McGrath replaced Mary Reilly), the Director of Media and Marketing (Guto Harri replaced Joy Johnson), and the Director of Strategic Projects and Performance (held by Murzinline Parchment - post abolished). Ken Livingstone has set all these issues out in greater detail here:
http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/Ken-Livingstone-Boris-Johnsons-Administration-Women-in-London-article_id-1712.html

Going one level in seniority further down, four senior posts held by women were abolished - the mayoral advisers on Culture and Events, on Women, on Creative Industries, and on Planning. Only one woman at this level, on Culture, was appointed by Boris Johnson. Actions speak far louder than any words – and this is what has actually happened. It's surprising that there has not been more criticism of this in the media, although Mayorwatch and this blog have done so and credit where it's due to the Guardian women's page for raising it.

Tim Parker says they are appointing the 'best' candidates for the job – and then women are not appointed. So the only conclusion that can be drawn is that there are no women with the skills and merit. In the whole of London? As opposed to the kind of women that were doing these jobs before? Does Parker really not understand what he is saying? It's grotesquely sexist.

[Mace]

Livingstone had no problem in findingf women, black people and other to fill senior positions. The GLA was the most divesre administration in the UK. Parker boast's about the GLA having attained level 5 of the Local Government Equality Standard, one of only three public sector organisations to do so. this was achieved by Livingstone and funnily enough his Equality Adviser Lee Jasper. I think we are witbessing the the testosterone whitening of the GLA. Parker comments are correct the higher the position the smaller the pool of potential candidates. There is no ' tension' between senior positions and diversity. There are plenty of women and black people as well as others who have the neccesary skills particulary in the public sector to fill senior positions . This is a not very sophisicated articulation by Parker expressing the priority and importance of equalities to this administration.

The reality is restricting the diversity of senior management teams means that real talent is locked out. London needs a GLA that looks like London not the City of London.

[Tom]

"There is no ' tension' between senior positions and diversity. There are plenty of women and black people as well as others who have the neccesary skills particulary in the public sector to fill senior positions ."

There aren't when you add in the stipulation 'Must be a member of the Conservative Party, Policy Exchange or preferably both'. Oddly enough, the PX bigots have never been notably concerned with making sure they represent the British population, only that they entrench themselves in positions of real, unaccountable power as soon as possible, thanks.