Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Birmingham council using ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to improve diversity in workplace

Birmingham council using ‘Artificial Intelligence’ to improve diversity in workplace

By Tom Dare

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE is being used by Birmingham council to stop ‘unconcious bias’ when finding job applicants, it has been revealed.


The move is an effort to improve diversity in the workplace, chiefs said, and has already been used in to council recruitment campaigns, with a third due to begin shortly.

The issue is due to be discussed next week by the Cabinet as part of the council’s Workforce Race Equity Review.

The idea behind the policy is to ‘ensure that our opportunities reach all areas of our community’, with a report into the Race Pay Gap last year stating:

  • Our workforce does not reflect the diversity of our city and 67 per cent of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff are in operational or frontline roles.
  • Staff from a BAME community are likely to be paid 7.9 per cent less than your White counterpart.
  • We don’t recruit enough BAME staff at management levels.
  • There is less likelihood of being promoted to Grade 5 and 6 if you are from a BAME community.
  • If you are from a BAME community you are more likely to resign or be made redundant than if you are White.

To help solve the issue of unconscious bias in recruitment, the council says it has taken to using AI, with papers stating that ‘early indications are that by using this approach we removed any unconscious bias from our advertisement placement”.

And they also say that progress has been made in a number of other areas to help tackle the Race Pay Gap, including:

  • Signing up to work with Business in the Community on the Race At Work
  • Charter, with financial support from the LGA.
  • Delivering workshops to over 400 people around “rebuilding trust”.
  • Published their Race Pay gap
  • Closed the ethnicity data gap from 29 per cent to 18 per cent.
  • Launched their new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion EDI Statement.

The papers are due to be discussed in Cabinet on Tuesday (18).

(Local Democracy Reporting Service)

More For You

Trump

Trump said the suspect had been arrested earlier for 'terrible crimes,' including child sex abuse, grand theft auto and false imprisonment, but was released under the Biden administration because Cuba refused to take him back.

Getty Images

Trump says accused in Dallas motel beheading will face first-degree murder charge

US PRESIDENT Donald Trump has described Chandra Mouli “Bob” Nagamallaiah, the Indian-origin motel manager killed in Dallas, as a “well-respected person” and said the accused will face a first-degree murder charge.

Nagamallaiah, 50, was killed last week at the Downtown Suites motel by co-worker Yordanis Cobos-Martinez, a 37-year-old undocumented Cuban immigrant with a criminal history.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer Mandelson

Starmer talks with Mandelson during a welcome reception at the ambassador's residence on February 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.

Getty

Starmer under pressure from party MPs after Mandelson dismissal

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer is facing questions within the Labour party after the sacking of US ambassador Peter Mandelson.

Mandelson was removed last week after Bloomberg published emails showing messages of support he sent following Jeffrey Epstein’s conviction for sex offences. The dismissal comes just ahead of US president Donald Trump’s state visit.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nepal’s new leader pledges to act on Gen Z calls to end corruption

Officials greet newly-elected Prime Minister of Nepal's interim government Sushila Karki (R) as she arrives at the prime minister's office in Kathmandu on September 14, 2025. (Photo by PRABIN RANABHAT/AFP via Getty Images)

Nepal’s new leader pledges to act on Gen Z calls to end corruption

NEPAL’s new interim prime minister Sushila Karki on Sunday (14) pledged to act on protesters’ calls to end corruption and restore trust in government, as the country struggles with the aftermath of its worst political unrest in decades.

“We have to work according to the thinking of the Gen Z generation,” Karki said in her first address to the nation since taking office on Friday (12). “What this group is demanding is the end of corruption, good governance and economic equality. We will not stay here more than six months in any situation. We will complete our responsibilities and hand over to the next parliament and ministers.”

Keep ReadingShow less
UK secures £1.25bn US investment ahead of Trump’s visit

US president Donald Trump and UK prime minister Sir Keir Starmer arrive at Trump International Golf Links on July 28, 2025 in Balmedie, Scotland. (Photo by Jane Barlow-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

UK secures £1.25bn US investment ahead of Trump’s visit

THE British government has announced over £1.25 billion ($1.69bn) in fresh investment from major US financial firms, including PayPal, Bank of America, Citigroup and S&P Global, ahead of a state visit by president Donald Trump.

The investment is expected to create 1,800 jobs across London, Edinburgh, Belfast and Manchester, and deepen transatlantic financial ties, the Department for Business and Trade said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Nearly 150,000 join anti-migrant protest in London as clashes erupt

Protesters wave Union Jack and St George's England flags during the "Unite The Kingdom" rally on Westminster Bridge by the Houses of Parliament on September 13, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Nearly 150,000 join anti-migrant protest in London as clashes erupt

MORE THAN 100,000 protesters marched through central London on Saturday (13), carrying flags of England and Britain and scuffling with police in one of the UK's biggest right-wing demonstrations of modern times.

London's Metropolitan Police said the "Unite the Kingdom" march, organised by anti-immigrant activist Tommy Robinson, was attended by nearly 150,000 people, who were kept apart from a "Stand Up to Racism" counter-protest attended by around 5,000.

Keep ReadingShow less