As Deputy Mayor for Business and Growth, one of my biggest priorities is ensuring that everyone can thrive in London’s economy and benefit from growth, regardless of their background.
The Mayor Sadiq Khan’s exciting new London Growth Plan, being developed with a range of partners including business leaders, aims to grow London’s economy, so we can improve the lives of all Londoners, drive London’s green transition and support prosperity in London and across the country. A key focus of the plan is to ensure Londoners and businesses have the skills they need to succeed, and raising living standards. Growth sectors like the green economy, life sciences, and creative industries are central to this effort.
Despite London’s diversity, and years of legislation and campaigns, there are still stubborn barriers for some communities to access good work. It is unacceptable that Black, Asian, and minoritised ethnic Londoners are more likely to be in insecure jobs and have slower career progression. For instance, only 23.8% of creative industry jobs are held by these groups, despite making up 33.2% of Londoners in the workforce. In particular, Black Londoners are underrepresented. 9.1% of Londoners in the workforce identify as Black but only 3.9% of creative sector jobs across the city are held by black people.
It’s even worse for entrepreneurs. I have spoken to women and black Londoners with fantastic businesses who have faced many hurdles from accessing funding to finding suppliers, which should have been much easier. Only 14% of VC funding goes to women and less than 1% to black women.
The business case for EDI is clear: diverse leadership and inclusive cultures lead to greater financial success, innovation, and employee wellbeing. We will never reach our potential as a city unless we are maximising the benefits of all the talent at our disposal.
That’s why tackling these issues is both a social and economic priority, especially with some of our fastest growing sectors like tech, climate industries, hospitality, film and TV facing skills shortages.
So I am proud to champion initiatives like the Mayor’s Workforce Integration Network (WIN) Design Lab, which supports businesses in key sectors like health, creative industries, and green economy to advance their EDI strategies. This programme promotes equity-centred design, with a focus on organisational change and best practice on EDI.
Through collaboration, we help businesses become leaders in workforce integration. By partnering with organisations such as CIPD, we are building a shared commitment to address long-standing labour market inequalities.
The recent WIN Design Lab Symposium celebrated the creative cohort’s achievements and graduation from the 10-month programme showcasing innovative projects from 11 companies. These businesses have shown dedication to advancing EDI, serving as examples for others. Their projects addressed themes like representing diverse audiences, creating culture change, and supporting underrepresented groups in career progression.
It was inspiring to see Fremantle, one of the creative businesses we are working with, win the Equity Projects in Progress Award for its “Virtual Ally for Everyone” project, which has developed a virtual tool to answer EDI-related questions using a diverse experiential dataset.
The team are training the tool to help users who may feel confused, curious or unsure about micro-behaviours and consider what action to take. The tool can offer validation and help people make sense of what they have witnessed or experienced, and also be used for cultural and inclusion education and learning purposes. The project was conceptualised by the Fremantle DE&I team following a wider collaboration with, Banijay, All3Media and Keywords Studios, as all participants recognised the need for anti-racism awareness to be widespread, available and on demand.
As Babita Bahal, Group Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion at Fremantle put it: “Our Virtual Ally, AI tool aims to include all views and experiences, to help build out bias and bake in confidence for anyone seeking advice and guidance around inclusion. Our ambition is to make it accessible across the creative sector, specifically to support our shared freelance workforce.”
Another of our participating businesses, Banijay, earned special commendation for their “Professionalise Me!” project which seeks to overhaul recruitment practices and reduce bias in their application processes. This includes creating standardized interview questions and a formal hiring process to foster inclusivity.
I urge other employers to follow these businesses’ lead, taking practical steps toward building more inclusive cultures. I encourage business leaders to join this critical effort to build a fairer and more prosperous London for everyone.
The Mayor’s Workforce Integration Network (WIN) helps businesses address labour market inequalities and promote inclusive workplaces. Their sector-specific Inclusive Employer Toolkits provide practical guidance for improving equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI).Download the toolkit here: Inclusive employer toolkits | London City Hall.