ACE commits to swifter reporting of sector diversity data

Arts Council England (ACE) has said it will review the way it analyses and publishes diversity data following a significant slowdown in reporting in recent years.

Reports on representation in portfolio organisations have been published each year for nearly a decade.

The first, which then ACE chair Sir Peter Bazalgette described as part of a “fundamental shift in the way we approach diversity”, covered the period 2012-2015.

Publication of the following four years of reports came within a year of end of the reporting period.

However the gap between the reporting period and publication has grown in recent years.

Data for 2021/22 was published in January this year – more than 20 months after the period it relates to.

And data for the final year of the previous portfolio period (2022/23) is not due to be published until spring 2025 – a gap of two years.

ACE has blamed the delays on the pandemic, but says is committed to speeding up the process and increasing transparency.

“We recognise that the disruption caused by Covid-19 has impacted the usual reporting timeframes around NPO diversity data,” a spokesperson said.

“In light of this, we are reviewing the process by which we analyse and report on this data, in order both to boost transparency, and to ensure that information is published more quickly.

“The next report is currently in development and, uniquely, it will be more extensive, looking back on all five years of the previous National Portfolio, including the extension year in 2022/23. It will be published early in the new year.”

ACE has previously used the data to assess progress NPOs are making in terms of the makeup of their workforces.

In 2018/19, Creative Case for Diversity ratings were introduced of NPOs – for the first time rating organisations against a four-point scale. They were published again in 2019/20.

NPOs receiving more than £250,000 a year had been required to reach a ‘strong’ rating by October 2021 as a condition of their funding.

But the ratings were dropped in 2020/21 due to Covid and have not appeared since.

Sector accountability

Amanda Parker, founder of Inc Arts Alliance and EDI cultural sector specialist, told Arts Professional that she remains optimistic that the data, once published, will demonstrate year-on-year improvements.

However, she has concerns about the delays in publishing the data and the absence of targets and potential sanctions.

“In just under 10 years it takes twice as long as it used to for us all to have public sight of what’s happening in organisations around diversity of workforce, environment and practice,” she said.

“These metrics are published to keep the sector accountable: in this instance the accountability applies to both ACE and the organisations it funds.

“If information is published two years after the snapshot was taken, what purpose does it serve in publishing other than ACE meeting its own compliance requirements?”

She added that it is “worth questioning” why the ratings system was shelved.

“It caused lots of problems for those deemed ‘too big to fail’ and who were yet falling short of EDI expectations of them,” she said.