Executive Summary
Common Purpose was commissioned by the Government Equalities
Office to conduct an online survey of Common Purpose alumni who
have been on civic leadership programmes in the last six years.
Participants on Common Purpose courses by virtue of the application
process for these courses form a useful proxy for local leaders or
opinion leaders. There is no firm "pathway" in to national public
appointments. Anecdotal research and discussions with public body
board members and chairs has highlighted a common theme of local
leadership and engagement being an important training ground and
experience base for those who move on to national public
appointments.
To understand better the likely potential pipeline of public
appointees, a study of local civic leaders, whether or not yet in a
formal public position, was proposed to explore attitudes towards
public appointments, as well as motivations for, or barriers in
applying for, public appointments. This study was designed as a
pilot to explore whether there are issues that diverse groups of
the population who are currently under-represented on the boards of
public bodies are more likely to face. A sample of 659 Common
Purpose alumni responded. The respondent group was not a fully
representative sample of the whole of the population, as there was
a slight bias towards the over 30s, although there was a good split
across gender, geography, ethnicity and disability.
