Diversity in public appointments: 2026 - data context

Public bodies make decisions and deliver services that affect communities across Wales. Having a broad range of backgrounds, experiences and perspectives represented on public boards can strengthen decision-making and help boards better understand the communities they serve.

Collecting and publishing diversity information helps us understand who is engaging with the public appointments system, identify where representation may be uneven, and monitor change over time. Publishing the information also provides transparency about the evidence we hold, including its limitations, and enables progress and patterns to be considered over time. It provides evidence to inform work to make public appointments more accessible and inclusive, including improvements to recruitment processes, candidate support, outreach and engagement.

This evidence also contributes to our understanding of progress against wider commitments to equality, diversity and transparency. These include the Public Sector Equality Duty, the principles of the Governance Code on Public Appointments, and the recognition of diversity in public leadership within the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan.

The reports draw on 2 separate sources of diversity information. Each source provides a different perspective and should be interpreted according to its purpose, coverage and limitations.

The 2 sources should therefore be viewed as complementary rather than as a single complete dataset covering every person serving on a public board. Bringing them together provides a broader picture of diversity across the public appointments system, while recognising the different purpose, coverage and limitations of each source. In particular, because participation in the annual board member survey is voluntary, the combined evidence cannot be described as a complete record of the diversity characteristics of all serving board members.

The Commissioner for Public Appointments analysis report relates to people progressing through the regulated public appointments recruitment and appointment process. It provides information about candidates and appointees during a defined reporting period. This helps us consider the diversity of the candidate pool and outcomes at different points in the process. However, because it relates to recruitment activity and new appointments, it does not describe the full population of people currently serving on public boards.

The survey provides a snapshot of the diversity of serving board members who choose to take part. It broadens our understanding beyond recent recruitment activity by gathering information from people already holding public appointments. However, participation is voluntary, so the findings reflect the profile of respondents rather than every serving board member. The results should therefore be treated as indicative and not as a statistically representative or complete account of board diversity.

The 2 sources consequently answer different questions:

• The Commissioner for Public Appointments analysis report helps us understand diversity through the regulated recruitment and appointment process.
• The board survey helps us understand the characteristics of serving board members who respond to the voluntary survey.

The evidence should support learning and action, rather than simply describe representation. It can help the Public Appointments Team and public bodies to:

• identify where awareness, applications, progression or representation appear uneven
• shape targeted outreach and engagement
• improve the accessibility and inclusivity of recruitment processes
• consider what further candidate or board member support may be needed
• review the quality and consistency of diversity data collection, and
• monitor patterns over time alongside changes to policy and practice.

The reports should not be used to draw conclusions about individuals or to assume that respondents to the voluntary survey represent all serving board members. They provide part of an evolving evidence base that will inform ongoing work to make public appointments in Wales more open, accessible and representative.