THE BBC does not have a single black person in a senior commissioning role, according to the corporations own data.

There were only 11 people of African or Caribbean background in any kind of role to commission programmes for the public service broadcaster, out of 209 staff of all backgrounds.

The near-absence of black decision-makers in the key area of buying-in content from external production companies will alarm campaigners for better racial diversity in the BBC.

Last year the BBC’s deputy head of diversity, Miranda Wayland, criticised the character Luther, played by Idris Elba, of not being authentic because he didn’t have any black friends and never ate Caribbean food.

Earlier this month Wayland quit her role to join Amazon. Jackie Christie, who led on race equality in BBC’s human resources team, has also departed. And Debbie Ramsay, the most senior black news executive in the corporation, has also recently left to take up a post at Channel 4.

The BBC’s annual report for 2020/21 reveals that there were only 101 black staff working in News and Current Affairs, out of an overall total of 3,020, which is a lower proportion than the African and Caribbean population.

A black news reporter at the BBC, who did not want to be named, said: “There’s a lot of warm words from above on diversity but the reality is we’ve been seeing really good, experienced black professionals leave for years.

“We’ve also seen black programming decimated in the BBC’s regions with the axing of shows targeted at black communities. It’s same-old, same-old.”

Last December, a report from the Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity revealed all-white radio newsrooms in BBC Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The BBC had increased the proportion of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) staff by 1.6% over five years, and had made progress on reducing the ethnicity pay gap to almost zero.

BBC programming reached 77% of the BAME population in an average week, compared to 92% of the white population.

BAME on-screen diversity between April 2020 and March 2021 was 26%, but off-screen diversity was less than half at 10%.

The corporation have a target of 20% BAME staff by April 2024.

The BBC say they are working on ambitious plans to become the industry gold standard for workplace diversity and inclusion, and are investing heavily in entry-level schemes and apprenticeships.

BBC spokesperson said: “The BBC is working hard to ensure our staff reflect the full diversity of the UK, on and off screen, so we can better serve our audiences. We know there is more do and have clear targets to increase representation across the organisation.

“We are proud to attract highly-skilled staff of all backgrounds, many of whom are in huge demand in the wider market, and we are also fortunate to have a great pipeline of talent within the organisation.”

UPDATE 11/03 15:00: This article has been updated after the BBC pointed out that there were 22 black staff in BBC Studio radio production, not zero as we had stated. They also wanted us to clarify that Miranda Wayland had left to join Amazon.

The Voice would add that the following areas not mentioned in the original article all have zero representation of black African and Caribbean staff in leadership positions as of 31 March 2021: Chief Customer Officer Group (of 101); Chief Operating Group (of 701); Group Corporate Affairs (of 59); Group Strategy and Performance (of 17); Nations (of 600); BBC Studios sales and distribution, branded services and management (of 307); Sales and Marketing (of 146); Technical and Engineering (of 518).