The Minister for the West Midlands has said he was “gobsmacked” by the absence of ethnic minorities among the region’s leaders, as he set out his plans for the year ahead.

Liam Byrne (Lab Hodge Hill) called for the creation of new universities and a “revolution” in skills, with training for 250,000 low-skilled workers.

He delivered a speech reviewing the Government’s work in the region since Gordon Brown appointed him Minister for the West Midlands Prime Minister 12 months ago, and his plans for the future.

One of his tasks over the past year has been to consult the business leaders and the heads of agencies responsible for skills, training, housing, health and education.

But he said: “I was just gobsmacked that I was talking to audience after audience and there was nobody from an ethnic minority background in the room.

“The West Midlands is home to 19 per cent of the British Indian population. It shouldn’t be possible to go to a meeting of senior business leaders or public service leaders and not see an Asian person in the room.”

The West Midlands could not thrive as a region if parts of the population were excluded from leadership roles, said Mr Byrne.

He had ordered a full analysis of the governing boards of public sector organisations in the West Midlands to determine whether people from ethnic minorities were properly represented, as well as women and people with disabilities, he said. He had also commissioned a report into ways to make such bodies more representative.

Mr Byrne said the region’s most important achievement had been in skills and training, where local councils had agreed to aim for a dramatic improvement in the skills of the region’s workforce.

“We originally set a target of getting 75,000 people qualified up to level two, which means the equivalent of five good GCSEs.

“But local authorities have committed themselves between them to 250,000 people.

“If we pull that off, then it will be a revolution in skills in this region.”

The Government has announced proposals to open new universities or higher education colleges in large towns which do not currently have them, and Mr Byrne said he hoped the region would get two new universities or colleges as part of the drive to improve skills in the region.

However, rather than focusing on school-leavers like traditional universities, they could be aimed at people who were already in work.

He also admitted he was frustrated by the failure to create a structure for holding him and regional agencies to account.

When the post of Regional Minister was first created, Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, also promised to create a regional committee which would allow MPs to hold the Minister and top local officials to account.

However, the committees have still not been created, even though regional ministers have been in the job for ten months.

Mr Byrne said: “What has become even clearer to me over the past 10 months is that there are a number of regional agencies that really hold he region’s fate in their hands. They are co-ordinating billions of pounds of public money.

“The West Midlands has the right to know more clearly what they are doing on behalf of the region.”