COUNCIL bosses have rejected criticism over their record on employing ethnic minorities.

A report by the GMB union shows North Yorkshire County Council is one of only seven councils in England not to have any ethnic minority employees in the top 5pc of earners.

This compares to some councils which have up to 20pc of the top jobs filled by those from ethnic minority groups.

The figures prompted the Commission for Racial Equality to say that the authority should be doing more to take-on employees from minority backgrounds.

"The ethnic make-up of public authorities should reflect the communities they serve," a spokesman for the commission said.

Justin Bowden, from the GMB, said: "The law requires all employers, both public and private, not to discriminate against ethnic minority applicants. These figures show that many councils have not appointed any employees from ethnic minorities into their top jobs."

But Simon Cox, policy and support services manager for personnel at the council, said minority employees had now been appointed in senior positions and the criticism was unfair.

"The data that the GMB used is a year old, and we have now achieved level one of the equality standards for local government," he said.

"We are now developing a presence in the national labour markets to encourage more ethnic involvement."

The other six councils who, according to the GMB, have no ethnic minority employees in the top posts are Blackpool, Portsmouth, Poole, Hartlepool, Wiltshire and Dorset.

The figures used by GMB were supplied to the Audit Commission by local councils.