The governor of the Bank of England, Mark Carney, says there needs to be a “step change” in the way the central bank addresses the underrepresentation of minority groups among its staff.

“The governor said that on every metric there was Bame [black, Asian and minority ethnic] under-representation in the organisation and it required a step-change in approach,” according to minutes of the November meeting of the BoE’s Court, released in December.

“Affinity groups were not enough – the problem