The Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG) told the Birmingham Mail that next year's Commonwealth Games "fails to come close to reflecting the black, Asian and other minority ethnic roots of over half the city".

It cited Birmingham 2022's own data which says that just 18 per cent of workers, and seven per cent of managers, are black, Asian or from another ethnic minority.

This compares to Birmingham's workforce in total, where 47 per cent of people are from an ethnically diverse background.

Birmingham 2022 said that this data was now "several months old", with an update due in the new year.

"We are constantly recruiting so our workforce is changing all the time," said Donna Fraser, the head of equality, diversity and inclusion at Birmingham 2022.

"We've been making improvements to the way that we attract talent and bring them into the team, ensuring that we share job opportunities with as many people as possible from across the city, and we will continue to do this as we adapt and evolve our inclusive recruitment process. 

"One example of how we are doing this is by using dedicated job boards, media and websites that target people from underrepresented groups.

"To further support this, and as part of our ongoing community engagement efforts, our recruitment team has been busy delivering in-person job forums and mentoring circles to ethnically diverse groups. 

"We've made administrative changes to improve our internal processes, ensured hiring managers are trained in inclusive recruitment methods, modified our interview experience, and ensured that our job adverts are visible and accessible across a multitude of channels and that the recruitment process is clear. 

"We have nine months left to the start of the Games so we are constantly looking for ambitious people who meet the criteria of the available roles who can be a part of delivering something spectacular for the region."

Birmingham 2022 has previously faced criticism for a Board of Directors and executive management team which was almost entirely white.

Work to change this has been carried out - resulting in praise from the BRIG.

Appointments to the Board have included Barbados Olympic Association President Sandra Osborne, Commonwealth Games netball gold medallist Ama Agbeze and five-time karate world champion Geoff Thompson.

Hiren Dhimar, a senior commercial adviser for the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, also now has a seat.

The BRIG was formed last year amid the Black Lives Matter protests which were held around the world following the death of George Floyd in the United States.

Floyd, a black man, died after white police officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck.

The BRIG has called on organisations to sign-up to the Race Equality Code, which has been adopted by Birmingham City Council.

However, Birmingham 2022 said the code would not work for the Games due to their short lifespan.

Officials have worked with Karl George, who developed the race code, to deliver a Young Leaders Programme for Birmingham 2022.

In October, Games organisers also signed the Race at Work Charter.

This pledges to improve outcomes for employees from ethnically diverse communities, and sets out five actions for signatories to take.

These are appointing an executive sponsor for race, capturing data and publicising progress, ensuring zero tolerance of harassment and bullying, making equality in the workplace the responsibility of all leaders and managers and taking action that supports ethnic-minority career progression. 

Birmingham 2022 is due to run between July 28 and August 8 next year.