As reported by BirminghamLive, just one of the 20 members of Birmingham 2022's Board of Directors and Executive Management is not white.

The Executive Management team consists of five white men and two white women, while its Board of Directors features seven white men, five white women and one black man.

Also featuring on the Board is West Midlands-born Para-swimmer Ellie Simmonds, who has achondroplasia, a genetic disorder causing dwarfism.

Anita Bhalla, who chaired a commission looking into diversity for West Midlands Mayor Andy Street two years ago, claimed she was "sick and tired" of having similar conversations about a lack of representation at the top.

"We were talking about this three decades ago," Bhalla said to BirminghamLive.

"To suggest that there are no black or Asian people capable of holding any of these executive positions is a slap in the face.

"We have to go beyond the rhetoric and see action - we cannot wait until the Games is over, and more years pass, to reflect, analyse and say we must do better.

"If we cannot get it right here in Birmingham, in a city like ours, where we have so much talent to draw from, where will we get it right?"

Birmingham is one of the most ethnically-diverse cities in Britain. 

Speaking to insidethegames in response to the criticism, Birmingham 2022 chief executive Reid highlighted steps already taken by the organisation to improve diversity and said more were likely to follow.

"The vision for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games is to be the 'Games for Everyone' - we are conscious of our responsibilities and passionate about making this a reality," Reid said.

"As a company we are still establishing ourselves and we continue to recruit at speed - in the next two years, our staff numbers will increase ten-fold and we are committed to ensuring our workforce reflects the city and region in which we are operating.

"We are already taking steps to improve representation and ensure equal opportunity for all.

"At the end of the 2019, we began working towards Leaders in Diversity accreditation with an action plan to get us there by the end of 2020.

"We established an internal Equality, Diversity and Inclusion working group in February and it has a mandate to challenge, improve on and further develop that action plan.

"We are working with our recruitment partner to ensure every vacancy reaches the widest possible pool of talent.

"We have recruited five prominent and skilled community representatives to our Legacy and Benefits Board Sub Committee to ensure we have a wide range of views, experience and expertise at the table.

"We are also looking at Board representation with our Games Partners, all of whom have a seat at the table.

"Our Executive Management team is currently looking at ways in which the senior executive decision-making body is more representative and is completely committed to ensuring our growing workforce is representative of the city and region that's hosting the Games, " said Reid.

"We know there is more to do and we continue to actively consider how we make a meaningful contribution to equality, inclusion and diversity in the next two years."

Birmingham will be the third British city to host the Games this century after Manchester in 2002 and Glasgow in 2014.

The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) recently came out in support of athlete advocacy and activism in the wake of Black Lives Matter protests across sport.

In a statement to insidethegames, the CGF backed Birmingham 2022 taking measures to improve diversity.

"The CGF supports the renewed commitment of the Birmingham 2022 Organising Committee to ensure that their governance and workforce fully reflects the diversity of the city and the region as they undertake significant recruitment over the next two years," a CGF spokesperson said.

"Birmingham 2022 are taking steps to improve representation and ensure equal opportunity for all while they continue to work to fully capitalise on the powerful platform the Commonwealth Games provides to make a meaningful contribution to equality, inclusion and diversity."

Through its Transformation 2022 Strategy, the CGF is seeking to address issues concerning racial equality, anti-discrimination and historical injustices, it highlighted.