• Civil Service governance
• Accountability
• Diversity
  • Achieving a diverse Civil Service
  • Diversity Champions Network
  • Monitoring diversity
  • Public equality duties
  • Tackling harassment and bullying
  • Disability consultation
  • Ethnicity re-survey
• Statistics
• Public bodies
• Public appointments
• Nationality requirements
• Government communications

About the Civil Service

Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity – A Strategy for the Civil Service

• Foreword
• Introduction
• Key themes
• Behaviour and culture change
• Leadership and accountability
• Talent management
• Representation

Foreword

The Civil Service is changing to meet the needs of the 21st century and the society that we serve. Delivering on equality and diversity is at the heart of how we are changing. It is also at the heart of our commitment to improving the delivery of public services for everyone in society. This is not simply a matter of professional pride. Respecting and valuing differences will help ensure that our policies and services reflect the needs and experiences of the people we serve.

Diversity is core to our ability to be proud, passionate and professional about all we do.

In 2005, we launched Delivering a Diverse Civil Service: A 10-Point Plan to drive forward our commitment to diversity over the three years to 2008. This was an ambitious plan at the centre of Civil Service reform aimed at helping us to achieve a more diverse workforce to make us better equipped to deliver, adapt and innovate. I am proud of the progress we have made, but we must not be complacent.

Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity – A Strategy for the Civil Service builds on what we have already achieved and reflects the drive to mainstream equality and diversity further into every aspect of our business. It is also a framework of commitments that will help us fulfil our new single public equality duty under the Government's new vision for equality, Framework for a Fairer Future – The Equality Bill, which for the first time includes age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. Delivery will depend on the commitment of everyone, at every level, in the Civil Service. We must drive forward the changes that we need to make if we are to reflect society in the future with a workforce for the future that is made up of the richest possible mix of talent.

We will only succeed if we value our people, invest in their development and create an inclusive culture, giving a lead to other employers as we do so. I remain personally committed to promoting the benefits inherent in a Civil Service that values equality and diversity and reflects the society we serve.

Sir Gus O'Donnell
Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service

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Introduction

The Civil Service is committed to improving the delivery of public services for everyone in society. Through understanding the diversity of society, by better reflecting the aspirations, experiences and needs of the people we serve and by respecting and valuing differences, we can provide the policies and services that people want from us. To do this effectively, we need a workforce with the very best possible mix of existing and future talent.

We are proud of the steady progress that we have made on diversity in our workforce over the last few years. An increase in the representation of part-time employees and other flexible working practices have contributed to a year-on-year increase in the percentage of women in the Civil Service. Women account for 53%¹ of the Civil Service, compared with 48%² in 1997. The proportion of women in the Senior Civil Service has almost doubled since 1996, from 16.7% to 32.1% in October 2007.³ And we compare well with the private sector and overall UK employment. For example:

• in 2007, 26.6% of top management posts³ in the Civil Service were filled by women, compared with only 11% in FTSE100 companies;⁴ and
• in 2008, 53% of people employed in the Civil Service were women, compared with 46% of people employed in the UK.⁵

The percentage of minority ethnic civil servants has risen by almost half, from 5.7% in 1997 to 8.3% in 2007. And the proportion of civil servants declaring a disability has more than doubled from 3.1% in 2001 to 6.7% in 2007.⁶

The Civil Service, in common with other public sector employers, has public duties in law to promote equality of opportunity and community cohesion and to eliminate discrimination and harassment. We are held to account for our public equality duties by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), through the equality schemes and equality impact assessments we publish. The Government has set out a new vision of equality in its Framework for a Fairer Future – The Equality Bill. This includes a new single public equality duty that, for the first time, covers age, sexual orientation and religion or belief. The Civil Service wants to improve transparency and be an exemplar across the full range of our responsibilities on equality. We will be working to prepare for the introduction of this new duty. This strategy is an important contribution towards that work. It sets out a framework of commitments for how Civil Service departments and agencies will use their broader public equality duties to create a more confident and diverse workforce.

When we talk about promoting equality we mean equality of opportunity for all our staff, through fair and non-discriminatory employment policies and processes. By diversity we mean people who are in one or more of seven diversity groups: race, gender, gender identity, disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation. We mean diversity in its widest sense, encompassing people who work part-time or other alternative working patterns; people with different skills, experiences and educational and social backgrounds; and people with caring responsibilities.

This strategy sets out what the Civil Service wants to achieve in equality and diversity in employment over the next three to five years. It provides a framework against which individual departments and agencies will take actions, and we will measure our performance regularly and make it visible. We know that we need to work together – and to learn from best practice inside and outside the public sector – so that we can turn these commitments into actions that make a real difference to all staff in the different employers that make up the Civil Service.

Who this strategy is for

There are 523,000 civil servants.⁷ The Civil Service as a whole is already broadly representative of society, in terms of gender and race.⁸ Civil servants work all over the country – 83% work outside London.⁹ And they work on a wide range of public services, from call-centre staff in the Pensions, Disability and Carers Service to policy experts advising on strategic challenges for society in the future. Civil servants also work abroad, in support of Britain's interests across the world and helping to tackle world poverty. This strategy is for all civil servants, at all levels, wherever they work and whatever they do.

This is not about favours and special interests; everyone is part of one group or another. It is about the performance and ability of the Civil Service to deliver. Diversity matters to all of us in the Civil Service if we are to understand our customers, develop evidence-based policies that take their different needs into account and deliver high-quality services to everyone who needs them, in an increasingly personalised way. We will only succeed if we value our people, invest in their development and create an inclusive culture, giving a lead to other employers as we do so.

Equality and diversity in the Civil Service: a positive legacy

In 2005, to drive forward our commitment to diversity in the Civil Service, the Cabinet Office launched Delivering a Diverse Civil Service: A 10-Point Plan. This plan committed us to 10 key points to accelerate progress towards increased visible diversity in the Civil Service at all levels. The 10 points are: targets; measurements and evaluation; the Diversity Champions' Network; leadership and accountability; recruitment; development; behaviour and culture change; diversity impact of the efficiency and relocation reviews; mainstreaming; and communication.

For the first time, departments and agencies set individual diversity targets in support of service-wide targets and developed action plans to deliver the diversity 10-point plan. Each department appointed a board-level departmental Diversity Champion to drive progress. The Cabinet Office monitored overall progress on the plans and the overarching diversity 10-point plan itself. Departments took many effective actions to implement the diversity 10-point plan and we delivered important Civil Service-wide products: a new positive action development scheme called Leaders Unlimited and a good practice guide to diversity in recruitment at senior levels. The first Civil Service Diversity and Equality Awards event was held to celebrate our achievements.

We will build on the good progress we have made and take more action in the areas that we are confident will make a difference. We have learned that actions to address behaviour and culture change, strong and transparent lines of accountability and systematic talent management are most likely to improve diversity. We will share our best practice in these areas to inform the actions that departments and agencies take to deliver this strategy.

As well as building on our learning, we have taken account of thinking from our senior Diversity Champions across departments and agencies (through the Diversity Champions' Network) and our Permanent Secretary heads of department. We have listened to comments from our key stakeholders: diversity practitioners in departments and agencies, the Council of Civil Service Unions (CCSU) and representatives from our Civil Service staff networks. Individual civil servants and external commentators have had the opportunity to comment on the strategy direct through the Civil Service website. We thank those who have contributed and look forward to their continued involvement as we implement this strategy.

Why this is important

The population is already diverse – in more ways than we can see: we know that 45% of people say they have no religious belief, 47.5% say they are Christian, while the remaining 7.5% say they are another religion such as Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, Sikh or Buddhist.10 HM Treasury actuaries estimate that about 6% of the population are gay, lesbian or bisexual.¹¹ And the labour force is changing. The average age of the workforce is steadily rising and women now make up nearly half of the workforce in the UK, double the numbers of 25 years ago. Projections show that in less than 10 years' time there will be two million more jobs in the economy, 80% of which will be filled by women. They also estimate that the working-age population will increase by a million in the next 10 years, and that minority ethnic communities will account for more than half that increase.¹²

We can see that there is no such thing as a typical citizen, now or in the future. People's needs and concerns differ – between women and men, young and old, people from different social, cultural and educational backgrounds, and disabled and non-disabled people. The Civil Service plays a critical role – we are often the link between government policy and service delivery. So understanding the needs of different groups of people is inextricably linked to delivering better public services.

There are important legal, social and moral reasons for improving workforce diversity. We know that business benefits can flow from successful equal opportunities and diversity policies such as improved recruitment; improving the chances of the right people being matched to the right roles, improved employee engagement and increased customer approval.¹³ The business case for creating a more diverse Civil Service is compelling. Diversity can help us to deliver more effectively in two ways:

• There is generally a positive link in the Civil Service between workforce representation, service delivery and knowledge of customer population.¹⁴ We want to make the most of this positive link to bring the insights and experiences of a diverse workforce to the service delivery needs of different – sometimes hard-to-reach – groups.
• The best performing organisations, in both the public and private sectors, are also those that invest most in promoting equality and diversity in the workforce.¹⁵ We also know that valuing and supporting the diversity of people's backgrounds and lifestyles is important in making the most of the contribution that staff can bring to an organisation's performance.¹⁶ In the private sector, we see that workplaces with family-friendly practices are more likely to report above-average profits.¹⁷ In the Civil Service we want to increase our efficiency, effectiveness and ability to innovate through the greater creativity of an engaged and diverse workforce where everyone's potential is fully realised.

The Civil Service wants to harness the existing and future diversity of the population and lead the way for other employers in the public and private sectors. In this way we will maximise the business benefits we know a diverse workforce brings.

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Key themes

This strategy focuses on four key themes that will build on the progress made by departments and agencies as they implemented the diversity 10-point plan.

All four themes are linked and designed to drive the mainstreaming of equality and diversity further into every aspect of our business. Taken together, these themes and supporting actions provide a framework for delivering equality and diversity in the Civil Service for the next few years.

The key themes are:

• Changing behaviour to create a Civil Service-wide inclusive culture, confident in its own diversity. Underpinned by:
• Strong leadership – down to first line management level – and clear, transparent accountability for delivering diversity.
• Talent management systems that enable everyone to realise their potential, and accelerates the rate at which we bring in and bring on people from different backgrounds. Resulting in:
• A diverse workforce at all levels; measured against workforce targets to reach over the next few years, for women in the Senior Civil Service, women in top management posts¹⁸ and people from minority ethnic backgrounds and disabled people in the Senior Civil Service, that drive progress towards our aspiration to reflect the society we serve by 2020.

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Behaviour and culture change

Dignity and respect for all: we are inclusive and confident. Equality and diversity are fully mainstreamed across the Civil Service.

A Civil Service that is both visibly and culturally diverse at all levels is important. This strategy sets out our commitments on representation, how we will work towards them and how we will measure our progress. But the way we behave towards each other and our customers, and how our people feel about the Civil Service as an employer, are just as important as the number of people we have from different backgrounds.

At the very least, we expect that no one should experience discrimination or harassment and that everyone should be treated with dignity and respect – at all levels, at all locations. We want everyone, whatever their race, gender, gender identity, disability status, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, working pattern, educational or social background or caring responsibilities, to feel valued for who they are and what they bring to their work. We want everyone to be able to achieve their full potential. And we want to attract talented people into the Civil Service from the widest possible pool, through creating an inclusive culture.

If we are to realise the benefits of an engaged, diverse workforce through greater creativity, innovation and insights, we need to create a culture where people are encouraged to contribute different perspectives and take managed risks. We know that, to create and maintain this, our culture and behaviours need to be inclusive. We want changes in behaviour and culture made as a result of this strategy to last, so we will focus on actions that drive sustainable culture change in the longer term.

Creating an inclusive culture where we promote equality and value diversity means we must always challenge harassment, discrimination, stereotyping of particular groups and unacceptable behaviour whenever these happen. We also need to tackle other, less obvious behaviours that prevent people from realising their potential or making an effective contribution.

For example: well-meaning but inaccurate assumptions about the capacity or potential of disabled colleagues, treating disabled colleagues like children or asking inappropriate or intrusive questions; fostering a culture that inadvertently makes some people feel excluded; or not allowing people control, within business needs, over when and where they work.

We know that high-quality, challenging training that focuses on values, attitudes and behaviours and on the practicalities of including equality and diversity within business and individual work plans is likely to be most effective. This sort of training also provides an opportunity for people from different work areas to come together, and includes situations and behaviours that relate directly to people's personal experiences. Equality and diversity training is also effective when included in mainstream training on policy development and service delivery. Many departments and agencies have already rolled out such training as part of implementing the diversity 10-point plan, and we want this to continue and spread across the Civil Service during the implementation of this strategy.

We want to see behaviour change in the way we take account of equality and diversity in everything we do. As we implement this strategy and our public equality duties, we want equality and diversity to be mainstreamed in the way we manage our organisations – from business planning, the implementation of efficiency and relocation programmes, procurement, public appointments, policy development and service delivery to talent management and succession planning. The plans that departments and agencies develop to show how they will implement this strategy need to set out clearly how they will achieve this.

Outcomes:

A Civil Service where no one experiences discrimination or harassment and everyone is treated with dignity and respect.

An inclusive culture that is confident in its own diversity, that attracts and develops people from different backgrounds, and where the benefits of a diverse workforce are fully realised.

A Civil Service where equality and diversity are mainstreamed into all aspects of our business.

We will achieve these through:

• The Diversity Champions' Network (DCN) working in partnership with key stakeholders – diversity practitioners in departments and agencies, CCSU and Civil Service staff networks – agreeing a quantitative and qualitative framework for measuring and driving behaviour and culture change that uses the data available to us.
• Deepening our understanding of issues and barriers faced by people in different groups and taking actions to address these.
• The DCN promoting the mainstreaming of equality and diversity in day-to-day business, from departmental boards down through our organisations.

In the short term we will, through the DCN:

• Review plans for mainstreaming equality and diversity into departmental business, as part of the process of commissioning and reviewing departmental plans to implement this strategy, by early 2009.
• Put in place a framework for measuring behaviour and culture by early 2009. This should include quantitative measures such as staff survey results, availability and take-up of flexible working opportunities, provision of reasonable adjustments, sickness absence levels, provision and take-up of diversity training, outcomes of performance management systems, outcomes of participation in external accreditation schemes, outcomes of benchmarking schemes ¹⁹ and support given to staff networks. It should also include qualitative measures such as feedback from unions, staff networks and focus groups.
• Share our evidence on behaviour and culture and agree priority actions by mid 2009.

In the medium term we will, through the DCN:

• Review progress on behaviour and culture change using the agreed framework by end 2009.
• Identify and communicate good practice and areas for further action by end 2009.
• Review the effectiveness of departmental plans to mainstream equality and diversity by early 2010.

In the longer term we will, through the DCN:

• Review the effectiveness of our action on behaviour and culture against the agreed framework and publish our findings, highlighting successes and identifying any continuing issues, by mid 2011.
• Continue to review the effectiveness of departmental plans to mainstream equality and diversity at least annually.

We will know we have succeeded when:

• We have seen real progress against the quantitative and qualitative measures we agree.
• The Civil Service is recognised as being the employer of choice for people from a wide range of different backgrounds.
• The changes in our behaviours and culture translate into a more representative Civil Service at all levels, with sustainable diverse talent pipelines for the future.
• We can show that equality and diversity are taken into account in every aspect of our business through the equality schemes and equality impact assessments we publish.

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Leadership and accountability

Active, visible leadership of every aspect of equality and diversity in the Civil Service and successful delivery of this strategy, driven by clear and effective lines of accountability.

Leading from the front on equality and diversity – at all levels of management – continues to be vital. This means leadership across all aspects of diversity: race, gender, gender identity, disability, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, people who work part-time and alternative working patterns, people with different educational and social backgrounds, and people with caring responsibilities. Showing leadership in this area includes promoting and using the equality impact assessment process to mainstream equality and diversity into every aspect of business; practicing equality and valuing diversity when making decisions about recruitment, development and promotion; role modelling inclusive behaviours with confidence; creating an inclusive working environment for diverse teams of people; and creating opportunities to engage with people from different backgrounds. People in leadership and management roles also have a particular responsibility to tackle discrimination and harassment, to identify unacceptable behaviour and to challenge it.

Strong leadership needs to be supported by clear and transparent accountability for delivering equality and diversity.

The Prime Minister, as Minister for the Civil Service, is accountable for Government commitments on management issues including equality and diversity. The Minister for the Cabinet Office has day-to-day responsibility for Civil Service management issues.

The Cabinet Office leads on strategic human resources (HR) issues for the Civil Service: most of the day-to-day responsibility for HR issues is delegated to departments and agencies, ²⁰ who will implement most of the commitments in this strategy.

Our Permanent Secretary heads of department and their Chief Executive equivalents are accountable for delivering equality and diversity in their organisations, including all public equality duties. Permanent Secretaries and their Chief Executive equivalents will continue to be held to account for delivering all of their equality and diversity responsibilities and commitments, through their performance appraisal discussions with the Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Home Civil Service. A network of senior – usually board-level – Diversity Champions from across the Civil Service was formed in July 2005. This Diversity Champions' Network (DCN) is led by a Permanent Secretary Civil Service Diversity Champion and supported by the Cabinet Office. Its members represent their Permanent Secretaries and departmental boards at the Network. The DCN was instrumental in developing the diversity 10-point plan, was the key accountability mechanism in managing performance against it, and has set the direction of this strategy.

The DCN will continue to be the senior strategic leadership group that develops, agrees, drives and manages the implementation of equality and diversity in employment in the Civil Service. It will also continue to be a forum for sharing experience and best practice.

The DCN will work in partnership with equality and diversity practitioners in departments and agencies, and with key stakeholders such as CCSU, Civil Service staff networks and the Equality and Human Rights Commission, to deliver this strategy in their departments and agencies.

The Permanent Secretary Civil Service Diversity Champion will lead a Diversity Delivery Board, comprised of a subset of the DCN and other senior leaders, to provide a framework for reporting and measuring progress against this strategy in a way that is robust and transparent. This will include offering guidance to departments and agencies on how to develop their delivery plans for the strategy, which may align with existing equality action plans, and setting out how these delivery plans will be measured and assessed.

The DCN will work in smaller task groups throughout the life of this strategy to lead action in key areas. These task groups will involve key partners in their work – diversity practitioners, CCSU and Civil Service staff networks – and will find and learn from best practice and advice from outside the Civil Service.

Outcome:

Active, visible leadership of every aspect of equality and diversity in the Civil Service and successful delivery of this strategy, driven by clear and effective lines of accountability.

We will achieve this through:

• The Cabinet Office continuing to ensure that Permanent Secretaries and their Chief Executive equivalents are held to account for equality and diversity in their organisations, including mainstreaming these issues into every aspect of business.
• All leaders and managers including diversity in their performance objectives, either as a stand-alone objective or mainstreamed into business objectives, linked to reward.
• The Cabinet Office continuing to support the DCN as a senior strategic leadership group, building its links with key delivery partners.

In the short term, by the end of 2008, we will:

• Mainstream equality and diversity in the Capability Review framework.²¹
• Include all aspects of equality and diversity effectively into Permanent Secretary performance appraisal.
• Through the DCN, ensure that this strategy is communicated effectively at departmental level.
• Through the Diversity Delivery Board, commission and review departments' and agencies' plans to implement this strategy.
• Through the Diversity Delivery Board, provide a system through which we will monitor and report progress against this strategy, that will make our performance visible.
• Make stronger links between the DCN and equality and diversity practitioners in departments and agencies, CCSU and Civil Service staff networks.
• Set up task groups drawn from the DCN to drive the key work streams set out in this strategy, in partnership with key stakeholders.

In the medium term we will:

• Through the DCN, identify leaders who are able to act as role models for others (for example because of their ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability status, age, religion or belief, sexual orientation, part-time or alternative working pattern, educational or social background or caring responsibilities) by early 2009 and encourage and support them to play an active part in encouraging others.
• Conduct and publish an assessment of progress against this strategy by end 2009.
• Continue to hold Permanent Secretaries and their Chief Executive equivalents to account for equality and diversity in their organisations, through their performance appraisals and through Capability Reviews.

In the longer term we will:

• Continue to assess and publish progress against departmental implementation of this plan.
• Continue to hold Permanent Secretaries and their Chief Executive equivalents to account for equality and diversity in their organisations, through their performance appraisals and through Capability Reviews.

We will know we have succeeded when:

• Personal responsibility for mainstreaming equality and diversity into every aspect of business and role modelling inclusive behaviours is fully embedded in our managers and leaders.
• The DCN, working in partnership with key stakeholders (diversity practitioners in departments and agencies, CCSU and Civil Service staff networks) has driven the implementation of this strategy at departmental level in the most effective way to achieve success.
• Our progress-reporting mechanisms are regarded as credible, transparent and effective drivers for identifying good practice and areas for further intervention.
• Equality and diversity is mainstreamed into the Capability Review process.

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Talent management

Talented people from the widest range of backgrounds joining and progressing up through the Civil Service.

Effective talent management is vital for the Civil Service if we are to attract, motivate, develop and keep the right workforce to enable us to deliver a world-class service, now and in the future. Improving talent management for everyone will also be a key tool for improving workforce diversity. As part of a wider talent management approach, we need to be systematic about the way we attract and manage talented people from different backgrounds, so that we can achieve a representative Civil Service at all levels with sustainable diverse talent pipelines for the future.

For our existing workforce, this means using our employment equality data and gathering more qualitative evidence. In this way we can understand and address barriers to promotion for different groups and identify the most effective actions to take. We need to review the different routes into and up through the Civil Service, and we need to continue to use positive action ²² to encourage and train people in under-represented groups. We have a Civil Service leadership scheme, Leaders Unlimited, for talented people in under-represented groups with potential to reach the Senior Civil Service. Many departments and agencies run their own development schemes. We also need to consider the less formal methods of development that can affect people's chances of promotion, such as the provision of opportunities for temporary promotion or leadership of high-profile projects involving significant contact with senior leaders.

For recruitment, talent management means ensuring that we are engaging in the most effective outreach activity and, where we use search consultants, continuing to demand diverse longlists and shortlists. We need to ensure that our recruitment panels reflect the diversity of the candidate field as far as possible. It is equally important that these panels understand how to remove any unconscious bias from their decisions, and that our recruitment processes themselves are designed to promote equality of opportunity for a diverse candidate field. The Good Practice Guide to Diversity in Recruitment to the Senior Civil Service ²³ sets out guidelines on how to integrate diversity throughout the recruitment process.

Outcome:

Talented people from the widest range of backgrounds joining and progressing up through the Civil Service.

We will achieve this through:

• The Cabinet Office challenging departments on the diversity of their talent pipeline for the top 200 most senior posts in the Civil Service as part of our senior succession planning arrangements.
• The DCN sharing and promoting best practice on using talent management systems to bring in and bring on talented people from different backgrounds.
• The DCN finding and sharing the most effective ways to develop people and developing new approaches to pilot.
• Regular board-level discussions in departments and agencies on the diversity of the talent pipeline down to feeder grade level.
• The DCN promoting awareness and use of the Good Practice Guide to Diversity in Recruitment to the Senior Civil Service.

In the short term we will:

• Through the DCN and in partnership with key stakeholders (diversity practitioners in departments and agencies, CCSU and Civil Service staff networks), review the talent management arrangements set out in departmental plans to implement this strategy and share information about the systems and approaches that are most effective, by early 2009.
• Review the diversity of succession plans for the top 200 most senior Civil Service posts and work with departments to improve it by early 2009.

In the medium term we will:

• Take account of equality and diversity in the re-tendering of the Civil Service's executive search framework by the Cabinet Office by mid 2009, to ensure that executive search firms with direct and established access to diverse talent pools are included.
• Through the DCN, explore how we can share diverse talent pools across the Civil Service more effectively, especially at Senior Civil Service and feeder grade levels, by mid 2009.
• Through the DCN, review the most effective development actions for different groups from the wider public and private sectors by end 2009, and develop new initiatives and pilot these in departments and agencies.
• Assess the diversity performance of executive search consultants used by the Civil Service, by end 2009.
• Review the effectiveness of outreach programmes and talent management systems as part of departmental progress reports on implementation of this strategy by early 2010.

In the longer term we will:

• Through the DCN, review our talent management systems, highlighting those that have been most effective at improving diversity in promotion and recruitment by mid 2011.
• Through the DCN, review the range of formal and informal development actions used by departments, highlighting those that have been most effective at encouraging and supporting people from different backgrounds in progressing up through the Civil Service, by mid 2011.
• Through the DCN, review pilots of new initiatives and assess their effectiveness by early 2012.

We will know we have succeeded when:

• Our equality employment data shows that we attract, develop and promote people from different groups in proportions that reflect the labour market or our internal talent pool as appropriate.
• Diversity has been fully embedded in all departmental talent management systems.
• The talent pipeline to the top 200 most senior Civil Service posts is measurably more diverse.
• Recruitment and promotion panels for every level are able to consider diverse longlists and shortlists for each post.

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Representation

A Civil Service that is making good progress towards reflecting society by 2020, at all levels.

We know that our society is changing. We cannot predict all these changes but, if the Civil Service is to be effective in delivering services in an increasingly personalised way, we need to reflect society in terms of race, gender, gender identity, disability, age, religion or belief and sexual orientation, as well as educational and social background. We do not have the tools to measure all of these aspects of diversity in a quantitative way. Targets for progress on gender, race and disability in the Senior Civil Service do not express the whole of our aspiration, but they remain important commitments to which we want to be held to account.

We want to build on trends that show we are becoming more representative of some groups, and take targeted action for other groups where representation at senior or middle management level has not shown the progress we want. We want our Senior Civil Service to continue to grow more diverse, both visibly and culturally. We have set targets to reach for women in the Senior Civil Service, women in top management posts ²⁴ and people from minority ethnic backgrounds and disabled people in the Senior Civil Service. We aim to reach these targets within five years, with a stretch target of doing so within three years.

Visible diversity in the Senior Civil Service is important, but we also want to make the most of the strong diversity of our workforce below Senior Civil Service level, by building a sustainable diverse talent pipeline for the future. This means that departments and agencies will set diversity targets not only for their own Senior Civil Service populations but also for their feeder grade populations – and below this – where there is under-representation of particular groups.

We want to be confident that we understand the diversity of our workforce, to enable us to accurately measure whether we are on track to achieve our aims and to understand better the kind of interventions we need to make for different groups. We want to work with our partners, CCSU and our Civil Service staff networks to improve our data on disability and ethnicity.

We want departments and agencies to extend diversity monitoring to cover religion or belief and sexual orientation, and to consider whether there are any employment policies that need to be tailored to promote a more inclusive culture in respect of these groups, for example by providing increased flexibility around religious holidays.

Outcome:

A Civil Service that is making good progress towards reflecting society by 2020, at all levels.

We will achieve this through:

• Continuing to increase representation of women in the Senior Civil Service, women in top management posts and minority ethnic and disabled staff in the Senior Civil Service. We will aim to reach within five years (with a stretch target of doing so within three years):
  • 34% of staff in top management posts ²⁵ to be women (26.6% at October 2007).
  • 39% of the Senior Civil Service ²⁶ to be women (32.1% at October 2007).
  • 5% of the Senior Civil Service to be people from minority ethnic backgrounds (3.4% at October 2007).
  • 5% of the Senior Civil Service to be disabled people (3% at October 2007).
• Publishing progress towards these targets every six months.
• Working with departments and agencies to develop stretching targets for their Senior Civil Service, feeder grades and (where appropriate) the grades below that are tailored for individual departments.
• Improving the coverage, consistency and quality of our employment equality data.

In the short term we will:

• Through the DCN, work in partnership with key stakeholders including CCSU and Civil Service staff networks to review the quality, coverage and consistency of our data on disability and ethnicity. Put in place action to improve both by the end of 2008, aiming for a 90% declaration rate for the Civil Service overall by 2013 in both areas (declaration for the Civil Service for ethnicity is 78.7% and for disability 71.5%²⁷).
• Evaluate the pilot monitoring exercise to collect data on religion or belief and sexual orientation, conducted under the diversity 10-point plan, by end 2008. Provide guidance to support departments and agencies to start collecting this data.
• Work with departments and agencies to agree stretching diversity targets for women, staff from minority ethnic backgrounds and disabled staff in their Senior Civil Service and feeder grades by early 2009. Where departmental data shows that representation of particular groups falls off below feeder grade level, agree appropriate targets for these groups below feeder grade level.
• Through the DCN, conduct a review of our employment equality data at departmental level to understand barriers to promotion and recruitment for different groups; review different routes into the Civil Service, recruitment processes used and how they impact on different groups; and identify effective actions and how these can best be used, all by mid 2009.

In the medium term we will:

• Review progress against the overall Senior Civil Service targets and the departmental Senior Civil Service and feeder grade targets, to identify where we need to take further action; by end 2009.
• Have built our data on religion or belief and sexual orientation at departmental level by end 2009.
• Through the DCN, review progress against improving data quality, consistency and coverage for disability and ethnicity by early 2010, and work with key stakeholders to agree action if progress is not on track to achieve declaration rates of 90% by 2013.

In the longer term we will:

• Through the DCN, review progress against improving the quality, consistency and coverage of our data and put in place action to address any remaining barriers to declaration, all by end 2011.
• Evaluate progress towards monitoring religion or belief and sexual orientation, and publish the findings, by end 2011.
• Conduct an analysis of progress towards our overall Senior Civil Service targets and propose action for the future, by end 2012.
• Departments and agencies will conduct an analysis of progress towards their targets for feeder grades and below, where appropriate, and set out how they will drive further progress by end 2012.

We will know we have succeeded when:

• Our analysis shows that we are making good progress towards reflecting the society we serve at every level by 2020.
• The Civil Service is acknowledged as the employer that leads the way in valuing and promoting equality and diversity in its workforce, at all levels, and has a senior leadership that is both visibly and culturally diverse.
• Our overall targets for the Senior Civil Service are achieved, or exceeded, with sustainable upward trends for each group and strong talent pipelines in the feeder grades for each group.
• Departments and agencies have met or exceeded their diversity targets for their Senior Civil Service and feeder grade populations.
• Data is collected on a consistent basis and we are confident that we know the disability status and ethnic background of at least 90% of our workforce.
• Departments and agencies are confident that they know the religion or belief and sexual orientation of at least 80% of their workforce.

Alternative formats of the strategy are available. Please contact:

Diversity Strategy Team
Cabinet Office
Admiralty Arch
The Mall
London
SW1A 2WH

Publication date: July 2008
© Crown copyright 2008

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Notes

1. Public Sector Employment Q1 2008, Office for National Statistics (ONS)
2. Civil Service Statistics 2007, ONS
3. Senior Civil Service database, Cabinet Office; top management posts are defined as directors and above
4. The Female FTSE Report 2007: A year of encouraging progress, Cranfield University School of Management
5. Labour Force Survey (LFS) Feb-Apr 2008, ONS
6. Civil Service Statistics 2007, ONS
7. Figure quoted is headcount. The full-time equivalent (FTE) figure is 490,000. Public Sector Employment Q1 2008, ONS
8. Women make up 53% of civil servants and 46% of people employed in the UK (LFS Feb-Apr 2008). 8.9% of economically active people are from a minority ethnic background, which is matched by 8.4% of civil servants from the same backgrounds (Annual Population Survey September 2007, ONS)
9. Civil Service Statistics 2007, ONS
10. British Social Attitudes Survey 2007, National Centre for Social Research
11. Talent not Tokenism, EHRC, Trades Union Congress, Confederation of British Industry (2008)
12. Business Case for Diversity and Equality, Women and Equality Unit (2003)
13. The Business Case for Equal Opportunities: An Econometric Investigation, National Institute of Economic and Social Research (2007)
14. Delivering Public Services to a Diverse Society, National Audit Office (2004)
15. The Business of Diversity, Schneider-Ross (2002)
16. Measuring Leadership Effectiveness for Improved Organisational Performance; ISR Research (2004)
17. Talent not Tokenism, EHRC, Trades Union Congress, Confederation of British Industry (2008)
18. Defined as directors and above
19. Such as Opportunity Now, Race for Opportunity, Employers' Forum on Disability, a:gender's Trans Equality Index and Stonewall's Workplace Equality Index
20. Delegation under the Civil Service (Management Functions) Act 1992
21. The Capability Review programme is part of the wider Civil Service reform agenda. The reviews provide an assessment of capability for departments, identify key areas for improvement and set out key actions. See www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/accountability/capability/index.asp
22. Positive action is the provision in equality legislation that allows employers and others to provide training and encouragement to people from particular under-represented groups. It is designed to create a level playing field to enable people to compete on equal terms. Appointments in the Civil Service are based on merit
23. Commissioned by the Diversity Champions' Network, published by the Cabinet Office in February 2008. See www.civilservice.gov.uk/iam/diversity/recruitment/index.asp
24. Defined as directors and above
25. Defined as directors and above
26. All Senior Civil Service statistics are from the Cabinet Office Senior Civil Service database. Figures for ethnicity and disability are expressed as a proportion of known ethnic background and disability status.
27. Civil Service Statistics 2007, ONS

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