How did we create the list?

Any list which aims to define positions of power will be subjective by nature and can never be definitive. However, our list aims to encompass powerful players across both the public and private spheres.

It includes:

• Politics and the civil service (the cabinet, Scottish and Welsh devolved administration ministers and the mayors, leaders and CEOs of selected English councils).
• Business and professional services (including FTSE 100 CEOs and the heads of law, accountancy, advertising, consulting and publishing firms).
• Policing, defence and the judiciary.
• Media (editors of newspapers and lifestyle magazines and heads of the TV broadcasters).
• Education (vice-chancellors of the 50 top universities).
• Sport (premier league managers and heads of sporting bodies).
• Arts bodies.
• Health (CEOs and chairs of the 50 largest NHS trusts by admissions).

How was it sourced?

The full list is as follows (where links are not available source information is provided in brackets):

• Arts/culture bodies’ directors/CEOs (Arts Council England portfolio organisations funding and Department for Culture, Media and Sport final provision funding for 2016-17).
• Business organisations.
• Cabinet members and those who attend cabinet meetings.
• CEOs/managing partners of top 20 law firms.
• CEOs of FTSE 100 companies.
• CEOs of the busiest 50 NHS trusts (top 50 NHS England trusts by number of finished admission episodes in 2015-16 as provided by NHS Digital).
• Chairs of the busiest 50 NHS trusts (top 50 NHS England trusts by finished admission episodes in 2015-16 as provided by NHS Digital).
• CEOs of public bodies (bodies that receive most government funding plus other selected public bodies – Arts Council England, Big Lottery, British Council, the British Film Institute, Care Quality Commission, Independent Police Complaints Commission, Office of Rail and Road, Ofgem, Ofsted, Sport England and UK Sport).
• CEOs of the top 20 accounting firms as listed by AccountancyAge’s Top 50+50 Firms 2016.
• CEOs of the top 20 advertising agencies as ranked by Nielsen and published by Campaign.
• CEOs of the top 10 consulting firms as listed by Management Consulted.
• CEOs of the 10 top fundraising charities as listed by Charity Financials.
• Chief constables.
• Members of the Defence Council for the armed forces.
• Heads of the intelligence agencies (individual websites).
• Editors of top 10 UK women’s fashion and lifestyle magazines as measured by ABC circulation.
• London borough council CEOs.
• London borough council leaders.
• Managers of Premier League clubs.
• Managing directors of TV broadcasters.
• Directly elected mayors.
• Managing directors of media agencies.
• Metropolitan borough council CEOs.
• Metropolitan borough council leaders.
• Ministers
• Newspaper editors of the top 20 national newspapers by print circulation as measured by ABC.
  
• Permanent secretaries in the Civil Service Board (CSB).
• Police and crime commissioners.
• Leaders of political parties represented in parliament.
• CEOs of top publishing firms as measured by Nielsen.
  
• Scottish parliament ministers
• CEOs of national governing bodies of sport according to the 15 sports with the largest participation (excluding exercise, movement and dance).
• Supreme court judges.
• CEOs of top UK banks, regulatory bodies and representative groups (UK banks stress tested in 2016, the Bank of England and regulatory bodies).
• CEOs/leaders of trade unions that have 10,000-plus members.
• Unitary authority council CEOs.
• Unitary authority council leaders.
• Vice-chancellors of the top 50 universities.
• Welsh assembly cabinet members.

Wait, aren’t there some people on this list who hold more than one position?

Yes. For example some companies appear in both the FTSE 100 category and the TV broadcasters category. There are 1,070 individual entries on the long list. However, when duplicates are removed (those who hold more than one position or are represented in two different categories) there are a total of 1,049 individuals listed.

How was a person’s ethnicity determined?

Operation Black Vote (OBV), assisted by the recruitment agency Green Park, first carried out a visual check of every individual listed. When a person was identified as BAME further checks were carried out to establish their heritage. A second visual check was carried out by a professional researcher who also looked into the BAME individuals’ ethnic backgrounds. Checks on the heritage of a smaller sample of individuals on the list (regardless of whether the individual is BAME or not) was done using births, deaths and marriages records.

The listed BAME people are those whose ethnicity was confirmed through the steps taken. The approach is not without its issues: a person could consider themselves BAME although they are white in appearance. However, as this project in effect deals with outward perceptions of the individual (ie how the world views the individual as opposed to how the individual sees themselves), this methodology was deemed appropriate for the purposes of the project.

What time period does this project cover?

The list represents the position on 14 July 2017. In certain categories there is a discrepancy in the number of individuals listed. This arose in cases where an entry had to be omitted (either because the role was vacant as of 14 July or the relevant individual was not UK-based) and in cases where a role is shared by more than one individual in which case both individuals were listed. Some organisations listed an alternative to a CEO, for example a managing director, and in these cases the individual in this equivalent role was used instead.