The UK's Royal Air Force "artificially inflated" its diversity numbers in an effort to meet a key government target for female and ethnic minority recruits, according to leaked documents.

The RAF insists it did not act in any way illegally with its recruitment practices.

The UK's Minister of State for the Armed Forces James Heappey said any evidence of positive discrimination would be investigated and would not be tolerated.

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"We have asked for the Armed Forces to improve their diversity, but we will not accept courses beginning anything other than full, and we won't accept any lowering of standards, and we won't accept any operational impact," he told Sky News in the UK.

"But we're content for the chief of the air staff and his team to look at what they could legally do in terms of positive action, providing that the conditions the secretary of state and I have set are met."

Sky News claims the informed sources have alleged that recruitment officers were asked to prioritize the placement of women and ethnic minorities on training courses in the year to March 31, 2021.

"This was clearly positive discrimination," said the source. 

Positive discrimination vs positive action

Positive discrimination is defined as the practice or policy of favoring individuals belonging to groups known to have been discriminated against previously. It is illegal under the UK's equality legislation. 

Positive action, on the other hand, enables an employer to take certain action to improve workplace diversity.

Earlier in the week, the head of RAF recruitment had resigned over what defense sources described as "impossible" diversity targets for the current year.

Led by Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, the force was striving to meet government-set targets to increase the flow of female recruits to 20 percent and that of ethnic minorities to 10 percent by 2020.

On March 24, 2021, the RAF declared these targets had been met.

"Royal Air Force Recruitment and Selection - in collaboration with key stakeholders - has been working extremely hard to make the RAF a more diverse organisation that is better reflective of the society it serves," it said in a statement.

"Through targeted interventions, within a legal framework of positive action, across the attract, recruit and select space, a wide range of stakeholders have been engaged, including BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) and gender networks, to identify barriers to BAME and female recruitment."

But the breakdown of recruitment figures backing up the claim of meeting the target has not been released.

Numbers were 'fudged'

According to the ministry's public, biannual diversity statistics for the year to March 31, 2021, the female inflow rate was 18.3 percent as opposed to 20 percent. The RAF said the discrepancy was because its data did not include those women who re-joined the service.

However, a source claims the levels that were achieved were "fudged."

A leaked internal email broadcast by Sky News revealed that the RAF chose to scrap selection or suitability interviews for all candidates between December 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021 as part of a trial.

The RAF, however, said these interviews were put on "pause" to speed up the selection process to help achieve overall recruitment targets and minimize the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

It said this was not a move taken specifically in relation to meeting that year's ethnic minority or women targets. CGTN Europe contacted the UK's Ministry of Defence who said it did not have anything more to add at this stage.

'Minimum standard achieved'

Responding to the overall allegations, the RAF defended its recruitment action, saying the Recruitment and Selection executive team understood the difference between positive action and positive discrimination.

"Operational effectiveness is of paramount importance, and no one is lowering the standards to join the Royal Air Force. The RAF recruits for many professions and, like the rest of the Armed Forces, is determined to be a force that reflects the society it serves to protect," a spokesperson said.

"The Royal Air Force has a well-earned reputation for operational excellence that is founded on the quality of all our people. We will always seek to recruit the best talent available to us."