diversity report 2004

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Annual Diversity ReportFebruary 2004

DFID aims to respect, value and harness difference so that all individuals can make their

distinctive contribution to the benefit of DFID and its work to eliminate poverty

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ANNUAL DIVERSITY REPORT: FEBRUARY 2004

Page No.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3.

1. Coverage and Confidentiality 7.

2. Summary of progress and key achievements Update against Diversity Action Plan.. 8.

3. Summary of Key Issues and Planned Actions 10.

4. Progress Against Public Service Agreement (PSA) Targets on Diversity. 14.

5. Comparison of DFIDs performance on Diversity with Other Government Departments 15.

6. Overview of Staffing and Equality Proofing.. 17.

Advertising Effectiveness.. 17.

Recruitment 18.

Promotions and Postings 20.

Secondments.. 21.

Pay.. 22.

Performance Bonus/Special Achievements22.

Maternity Leave Cases22.

Disciplinary and Grievance Cases.. 22.

Leavers and Dismissals . 23.

Exit Questionnaires 23. Turnover and Retention. 24

7. Formal Report on the Race Equality Scheme.25.

8. Role of Diversity Champion, Diversity Adviser and Diversity Advisory Groups. 28.

9. Diversity Training ... 31.

10. Qualitative Analysis of Staff Perceptions..32.

11. Good Practice examples, Networks/Affiliations and Positive Action measures...34.

ANNEXES

A. Workforce Composition of DFID (HCS Staff) and supporting statistical analysis

B. Diversity Action Plan - updated against each objective

C. Overview of Equality Proofing reports

D. Staff perceptions: full analysis of 360 feedback and Management Survey

E. Good Practice Examples and Diversity Strategies

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Why We Have Produced This Annual Report

1. Over the last five years DFID has taken an increasingly active approach to diversity. Building

on its equal opportunities commitments DFID believes diversity is of fundamental importanceto its continuing success. This commitment is reflected in our 2002 organisational agenda

Going from Strength to Strength. After a range of consultations and a Diversity Audit in

2000, we developed a Diversity Action Plan (Annex B).

2. In recent years the Civil Service has emphasised the increasing importance of diversity. The

Modernising Government agenda clearly states the need for government to be working

together to be part of and not apart from the society we serve. DFID knows that the societies

we serve both in the UK and globally are increasingly dynamic and diverse. The Civil

Service has Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets specifically aimed at achieving a more

diverse senior civil service.

3. Recent laws on equalities and diversity have increased the legislative coverage of diversity.

For example the amended Race Relations Act 2000 has given a greater responsibility to all

public bodies to actively promote good race relations.

4. The European Union has also issued a number of key directives on Race, Sexuality,

Disability, Age and Religion and Belief. These have been important steps in establishing a

cohesive framework across Europe. The growth in the scope of diversity prompted a

government review of the three commissions set up to enact the legislation: the Commission

for Racial Equality, the Disability Rights Commission and the Equal Rights Commission. As

a result, there will be a new Equality and Human Rights Commission in 2006, which willbring together the different diversity strands.

RECENT PERFORMANCE

5. This section captures some of the highlights of DFIDs recent performance in terms of

outcomes, resources and systems. Since this is the first Annual Diversity Report, it includes

action that was undertaken prior to 2003.

Outcomes

6. DFIDs performance against the Public Service Agreement (PSA) Senior Civil Service (SCS)

targets on diversity has shown good progress on both gender and ethnic minorities.

Performance on disability is disappointing.

7. DFIDs staff diversity profile compares quite well to those of other Government Departments.

We have a similar proportion (48%) of women and a higher proportion (12%) of ethnic

minorities. But our performance on disability (1.4%) is much worse than the government

average of 3.6%.

8. Our new promotion arrangements have so far delivered very encouraging results, particularly

in respect of ethnic minority staff and women. However, we need to keep an eye onrecruitment processes we have recently taken on significantly more males than females.

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We have already, and for the first time, equality proofed our recruitment process to help us do

better in the future.

9. The Management Boards diversity profile has changed dramatically in recent years. It is now

smaller and more varied across gender, ethnic and age groups.

10. We carried out our first equal pay audit (for non-SCS staff) in 2003. We found no evidenceof significant pay gaps for Home Civil Servants. The design of the 2001 multi-year pay deal

has helped to equalise differences in pay within a realistic timeframe.

11. Our Management Survey, 360-degree feedback and Investors in People mini reviews all

reflected positive diversity progress. Many staff believe: that they have equal access to

development opportunities irrespective of their age, gender, ethnicity or role; and that

gatherings such as weekly meetings and retreats are now more inclusive. Staff appreciate the

variety of working patterns available and other family friendly policies. But we need to

improve some behavioural skills to allow more inclusive management styles.

12. Our Staff Appointed In Country (SAIC) now have significantly better career opportunities,

with a substantial number of Band A posts. DFID had none in 1997. We have also greatly

increased the number of B band posts over this period.

13. In the last year and more we have offered Development Attachments in the UK to our SAIC

who otherwise cannot obtain work permits to get UK experience. The attachments were

successful and, following a review of experience to date, DFID now plans a greater number

of diversity-friendly shorter attachments relating directly to individual development needs

Resources

14. Nicola Brewer, Director General, Regional Programmes, has taken up the role of Diversity

Champion. She has helped to give diversity a high profile in DFID and her FCO experience

brings a fresh perspective to the agenda. She works to help the department understand how

the diversity vision relates to the Departments business and has acted as a focal point for

DFIDs diversity resources and activity. Her networking extends beyond DFID and includes

Diversity Champions in other Government departments. Her position on the Management

Board allows her to take up diversity issues at the highest level.

15. Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia joined DFID as the Diversity Adviser in October 2003. Much of

her work supports the Diversity Champions agenda. She will help to develop a diversity

strategy and will work to address issues of culture change and service delivery. We have anHR diversity team within Human Resources Division including a full time diversity research

assistant.

16. The General Advisory Group on Diversity (GAGD) is a ginger group of DFID staff, across

grades and locations, aiming to promote diversity within DFID. In 2003 it focused on creating

links with other organisations and on key areas such as: the equal pay audit; enhancing our

understanding of diversity as a tool for management and organisational effectiveness; and

developing better diversity communication within DFID.

17. The Staff Appointed in Country Advisory Group considers a range of issues relating to

personnel management, career development and training opportunities for SAIC. The group

has helped with the implementation of a range of improvements to the terms and conditions of

service for SAIC

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Systems

18. An external benchmarking exercise in 2003 identified that we did not monitor diversity data

well. In mid 2003 we introduced a new HR database that significantly addressed this

weakness, and much of the data in this report draws on the database. It will soon include

SAIC information in it, making it even more useful. The database also helps us to fulfil themonitoring requirements of the RRA.

19. Directors have corporately agreed diversity objectives, which should cascade down to

management objectives at all levels.

20. In November 2003, we ran an ambitious and successful workshop for our overseas HR

practitioners. It aimed to clarify and disseminate the corporate HR agenda. It also initiated a

global HR support network. We will follow it up with regional events.

21. In September 2003 we launched an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to meet the need

for staff counselling overseas, including for SAIC.

22. We have reinforced the diversity aspects of our competency framework indicators. Our value

statement includes diversity and work life balance.

23. We have integrated diversity awareness within our core training programmes. It also forms

an important part of our mandatory Management Development Programme.

24. We have reviewed the occupational testing aspect of our recruitment process and now use the

most advanced and bias free tests in the market. We shortlist candidates without using bias-

susceptible data such as name, gender and age.

25. We launched a Sexual Orientation policy in December 2003. This meets one requirement of

the EU Fair Treatment Directive 2003.

26. We fund a range of positive action programmes including the Windsor Fellowship, which

offers a well-regarded development programme, including work experience, to high

achieving Black and Asian undergraduates.

FUTURE PLANS

27. We have made substantial progress over the last few years but we still have much more to do.We now have a strong base on which to build. DFIDs current position on diversity is

informed by our improved monitoring and evaluation systems and regular comparisons with

other departments and agencies. DFID does need to improve certain data gathering, for

example by increasing the declaration rate for ethnic minority staff and those with disabilities.

28. Our main future challenge is to ensure that in a highly decentralised structure, we are able to

create a competent culture of inclusiveness, openness and trust and reward good diversity

practice.

29. We will: develop a diversity strategy for the department; develop activities to increase

diversity awareness; and encourage debate on a range of diversity issues. We will strengthen

existing links with organisations, including other government departments and so learn from

others experience.

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30. We must develop the departments work on disability. We need to: take steps to employ more

disabled people; create a culture within DFID that makes people feel more comfortable about

declaring their disability; and develop work on how DFID can address disability more

actively in service delivery. We plan to explore this approach through work with Policy

Division and DFID India.

31. In 2004 we will also investigate any barriers that exist to career progression for women,

ethnic minority or disabled staff.

32. Other planned actions are detailed in the report and include: a review of our diversity

training; ensuring implementation of key diversity policies, such as flexible working; efforts

to take better account of diversity issues in our recruitment processes; and more targeted

advertising of posts.

33. The enormity of the development challenge demands a working environment in which every

member of staff can contribute to the best of their ability. DFID is determined to create and

maintain precisely this environment.

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SECTION 1: COVERAGE AND CONFIDENTIALITY

As an equal opportunities employer, DFID has a strong commitment to fairness and equality for all

and we are striving to develop an inclusive working environment where all staff feel valued and

encouraged to contribute, regardless of personal characteristics or background. Over the past few

years, DFID has taken a number of measures to improve the diversity of our workforce, ensureequality of opportunity for all staff and harness the different attitudes and perspectives within our

workforce to improve the overall performance of the department. The diversity agenda is key to

DFIDs performance and in this report we take stock of what has been achieved so far and what still

has to be done.

The purpose of this first Annual Diversity Report is to:

Take an overview of the diversity agenda, by outlining our progress in recent years to make

diversity integral to everything we do and assessing the outcome of equality proofing

exercises and staff surveys etc;

Outline how DFID has met its obligations under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000and publish the results from our subsequent Race Equality Scheme;

Provide a baseline of statistical information, against which to monitor progress in future

reports;

Identify areas of concern and outline the next steps and challenges for DFID in its future

diversity work.

The introduction of the HR database has been instrumental towards improving the accuracy and

availability of statistical information and this has allowed us to provide the comprehensive statistics

and analysis in this report. Some information is still collated or reproduced manually and cleansing

of the database is continuing, therefore, although we have gone to great lengths to ensure thereliability of this information, we must highlight that there is still a possibility of inaccurate data.

Current data-systems only provide information on UK-based, Home Civil Servants (HCS staff) and

do not hold any data on Staff Appointed in Country (SAIC). However, the HR database is currently

being rolled out to SAIC and will soon hold data for all staff in DFID. Future reports will include

detailed information on SAIC where possible, but the statistical information and analysis in this

report relates to HCS staff only and does not include SAIC, unless otherwise stated.

Ethnic origin information is collected in DFID through a voluntary classification questionnaire under

an assurance of confidentiality and a guarantee that it would be used for statistical purposes only.

DFID adheres to the Cabinet Office regulations of not publishing ethnicity data with an absolutenumber of less than 5, to avoid the identification of individuals without their consent. For the

purpose of this report, we have substituted numbers less than 5 with asterisks.

For further information on any aspect on this report, or to offer feedback or suggestions for future

reports, please contact Angela Bevan in HRPD ([email protected] on 01355 843321).

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SECTION 2: SUMMARY OF PROGRESS AND KEYACHIEVEMENTS UPDATE AGAINST

DIVERSITY ACTION PLAN

DFIDs Diversity Action Plan includes the recommendations made by the previous Diversity Adviser in her

Diversity Audit Report 2002. DFID has made substantial progress towards delivering key aspects of the

Diversity Action Plan over the past few years:

Key deliverables and achievements

Launch of DFID Core Values, including one on diversity and work/life balance.

Reworking of the Competency Framework and establishment of inclusive management behaviours.

Provision of statistical data has significantly improved since the introduction of the HR database,

which allows for more accurate and comprehensive monitoring and analysis. We are now

reviewing diversity statistics quarterly and reporting to the Management Board on a regular basis.

The provision of an Employee Assistance Programme to meet the need for counselling for staff

overseas, including SAIC.

General progress in achieving improvements in respect of terms and conditions for SAIC.

The introduction and review of the Development Attachment Scheme for SAIC.

The completion of an Equal Pay Audit which found no significant bias by gender, disability,

ethnicity or working pattern (see section 5 for further details).

The introduction of a mentoring scheme that is open to all staff.

Adapting the Management Development Programme and reviewing the Diversity Course.

Reviewing all core-training courses to include a session on diversity and ensure all staff are

trained on the general duty of the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000. The structure, format

and location of courses were also examined from a diversity angle.

The running of an HR Workshop for HR staff overseas and the launch of an HR Matrix, which

outlines the key skills and behaviours that HR staff overseas should demonstrate.

A review of the Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme and related positive action schemes to ensureresources are targeted as effectively as possible.

The launch of a Sexual Orientation Policy in December 2003 in Insight, drafted in light of the EU

directive. The Religion and Belief policy will be launched in early 2004.

Review of our Recruitment process, including the introduction of blind sifting and a review of the

psychometric tests used in Assessment Centres.

Continued benchmarking of our progress on diversity by holding regular meetings with other

government departments, including Department for Trade and Industry, Department for Culture,

Media and Sport, Inland Revenue and HM Customs & Excise.

Encouraging individual departments to share good practice examples on managing diversity and

some have drafted departmental diversity strategies.

Following some initial research into the career progression of ethnic minority staff, a widerqualitative study on the barriers to progression for all staff is now underway.

Opportunity Now, a business led campaign that works with employers to realise the economic and

business benefits that women at all levels contribute to the workforce, awarded DFID a silver

accreditation in their annual benchmarking exercise and gave us very positive

feedback. They noted, among other things what they called our "well conceived framework", our

Diversity Champion and Diversity groups and HR practices that are in line with good gender

practice. Our main weakness was in monitoring, but that has been significantly addressed in 2003

via the establishment of the HR database and the production of this Annual Diversity Report.

Structure and Resources

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The establishment of a General Advisory Group on Diversity and a Staff Appointed in Country

Advisory (SAIC) Group (see section 7 for further details).

The appointment of Nicola Brewer, DG Programmes, as DFIDs Diversity Champion (see section

7 for further details of her role).

The appointment of Kamaljit Kerridge Poonia as the new Diversity Adviser whose work will

include placing a greater emphasis on service delivery and culture change (see section 7 forfurther details of her role).

The creation of a permanent Diversity Research Assistant post, currently filled by Angela

Bevan.

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SECTION 3: SUMMARY OF KEY ISSUES AND PLANNED ACTIONS

3.1 GENDER

DFID has made significant progress on the representation of females in the SCS over the last two

years, resulting in a rise of over 7%. However, there continues to be an under-representation offemales in the senior grades and more females are leaving mid-career than males (Annex A, part

3). Additionally, we are failing to attract an even proportion of females at the advertisement stage

which, given their representation in the UK workforce, should be achievable at many grades.

Planned Action

Undertake a Career Progression Study to identify the barriers to progression for female,

ethnic minority and disabled staff in DFID.

Explore how to attract more female applicants with our Advertising Agents and review the

wording of the adverts to include more details of interest to females (e.g. flexible working).

3.2 DISABILITY

There has been a small improvement in the proportion of staff with disabilities in DFID. However

there is still a low representation of staff with a recorded disability and this does not compare well

against other government departments (see section 5). We do not know the true representation of

staff with disabilities in DFID due to a wider culture of non-declaration of disability; therefore we

must concentrate our efforts towards creating a culture where staff feel comfortable and secure

about being open about disability without fear of discrimination. Additionally, we need to increase

efforts to attract disabled applicants.

Planned Action to enhance the recording and reporting of disability:

Continue work with the Cabinet Office Disability Working Group to identify ways to

encourage the declaration of disability and feed into their discussions on reporting disability.

Management Board, Diversity Champion and Directors to encourage the declaration of

disability, including through the Yourself function on Insight. Staff must be aware that we

need this information to help support them better.

Diversity Adviser to work with Diversity Champion to improve the profile of disability in

DFID.

Planned Action to improve the representation of staff with disability:

Investigate why the 23 disabled applicants were unsuccessful through our recruitment process

between June 2002 and May 2003 (see section 7.1).

Advertise all posts within Disability press for a period of 6 months until we can undertake a

detailed analysis of this approach to determine effectiveness (see section 7.1).

Explore the option of networking with specialist disability schools, particularly around areas

of work experience placements.

Planned Action to change the existing culture around disability:

Diversity Adviser to include disability as one of the awareness-raising sessions planned for

2004.

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Investigate the possibility of working with disability organisations and liaison groups in order

to raise our profile and ensure we are providing adequate and sensibly focused support to staff

with disabilities where necessary.

3.3 ETHNICITY

DFID has made substantial progress towards improving the proportion of ethnic minority staff,particularly in the senior grades, but we recognise that the percentages are based on low actual

figures and therefore vulnerable to small changes. Although under-representation continues in

some grades, it tends to be at the grades to which we recruit and there is a high degree of

unreported ethnicity. This may be because we are not effectively capturing the ethnic details of

all staff on appointment.

Planned Action

Continue focusing on improving response rate by targeting non-responders, as well as

strengthening current procedures by ensuring all new staff are asked for details at the meet

and greet with HROD on their first day and again at the Induction course.

Formally monitor the overall representation of ethnic minority staff in each location against

the proportion of the economically active population in each catchment area from an ethnic

minority background. This will offer informal targets that are achievable and reflect the

different make up of each headquarters location (see section 6.2)

Progress has been made towards improving the representation of ethnic minority staff and in

particular, Asian staff. However, statistics suggest that there is a low representation of senior

Black staff within DFID and a low proportion of Black males overall. Black applicants were least

successful in both our external recruitment and internal selection processes.

Planned Action

Place a profile-raising advert in the ethnic minority press annually/biannually to raise

awareness of what DFID does as an employer(see section 7.1).

Investigate the use of other targeted advertising to reach Black and ethnic minority

communities, for example through Radio.

Explore other approaches through contact with external Black networks and organisations.

3.4 AGE

Work has started in preparation of the introduction of the age legislation in 2006, the implicationsof which will be far-reaching and will involve a review of current policy and practice in many

areas. Initial analysis suggests that there is a relatively low representation of staff Under 25 and

Over 55 and the number of New Starts within these age-bands is disproportionately low. Further

work is required to determine the extent to which this should be an area of concern. 12% of all

leavers were Under 25 and age was identified as a factor on which staff felt disadvantaged in the

Exit Questionnaire (see section 7.9 and 7.10).

Planned Action

Undertake a full evaluation of our recruitment process by age in 2004, facilitated by the new

recruitment module of the HR database.

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3.5 FLEXIBLE/REMOTE WORKING

A lot of good work has been undertaken surrounding Flexible Working, including the creation of

a guidance booklet that was well received by staff and is regularly requested by external

departments. However, qualitative and quantitative studies suggest that there is more to be done to

promote flexible working, particularly in the senior grades and overseas.

Planned Action

Include the issue of flexible working overseas as part of the Career Progression exercise.

Management Board/Diversity Champion to re-emphasise the commitment to Flexible

Working and encourage all areas of the office to review their practice. HR to support by

updating and reissuing the Flexible Working Booklet and guidance.

As part of the career progression study, profile a selection of senior flexible workers.

Ensure that managers are reporting against work-life balance as in the first Core Behaviour,

Working with Others, within DFIDs Competency Framework.

3.6 FURTHER INITIATIVES

In order to support some of the actions suggested above and to progress the diversity agenda further

over the next year, the following action will be taken.

Planned Action: Recruitment, Postings, Promotions and other HR processes

Review approaches that take account of diversity within Advertising, Recruitment, Postings,

Promotions, Secondment and Interchange.

HR staff involved in Recruitment, Postings and Promotion to undertake formal equalitylegislation training (joined by trainers in TDU) and fair selection training.

Ensure the recruitment module is fully active by September 2004 to enable us to undertake a

comprehensive statistical analysis of our external recruitment electronically.

Where possible, benchmark our turnover and retention rates against equivalent organisations.

Planned Action: Exit Questionnaire

Improve the format and structure of current questionnaire and ensure the process of issuing a

questionnaire is closely followed.

Review the delivery of follow-up exit interviews, with the aim of undertaking one with all

staff that have left for reasons other than retirement or end of contract.

Planned Action: Career Progression

Lack of career progression and development opportunities is perceived as a significant issue for

some staff in DFID, specifically young staff, females and staff in Abercrombie House.

In co-ordination with HRD, the Diversity Adviser is to undertake a Career Progression study

which aims to identify the barriers to staff progression for different groups within DFID.

Planned Action: Monitoring of Training

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HR database systems to collect and monitor statistical evidence on access to training for different

ethnic groups are under development. We were therefore unable to meet this requirement of the

Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 for the period of 2002/3.

TDU to proceed with a manual collection of data to ensure we meet this legal requirement

until the HR database is in place.

Planned Action: Gauging Staff Perceptions

Limited diversity qualitative analysis was captured through the 360 feedback and the

Management Survey (see section 9/Annex D), however more detailed information of staff opinions

on diversity is needed to determine current position and provide a basis for future comparisons.

Review the Management Survey with the aim of including more in-depth questions on

diversity.

Planned Action: Mainstreaming Diversity

Develop a Diversity Strategy to help further integrate diversity into the business functions.

Procurement Department to consider undertaking a monitoring exercise to determine diversity

of solo consultants (see Section 8).

Information and Civil Society Department to continue work with Black and Minority Ethnic

communities and promoting awareness of DFID within the different groups in society (see

Section 8).

More departments to complete diversity strategies and share examples of good practice

through the diversity page on Insight (See Section 12).

Diversity Adviser to investigate the need or interest in developing formal networks on each of

the diversity strands.

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SECTION 4: PROGRESS AGAINST PUBLIC SERVICE AGREEMENT DIVERSITY TARGETS

SCS staff by Gender, Ethnicity and Disability against targets November 2003

March 2002 November 2002

Figures

November

2003 Figures

DFID PSA

Target 2004/5

Civil Service

Target 2004/5

Females 16.1% 19.3% (11) 23.3% (17) 30% 35%

Ethnic

Minorities

7.1% 7% (6) 9.6% (7)

#11.5%

8.3% 3.2%

Disabled 0% 1.8% (1) 1.4% (1) 3.3% 3%

*Includes HCS P&P, HCS F/T & DFID paid seconded staff, as reported centrally to Cabinet Office. Excludes all other staff types.

# Calculated using the Cabinet Office method of calculating as a percentage of staff with a reported ethnicity

() The numbers in brackets relate to the absolute number of staff

Females in Top Management Posts in SCS- November 2003

JESP Score November 2003 Target 2004/513+ 26.7% 23%

Progress against the PSA Targets for

Females in the SCS

0%

5%

10%

15%

20%

25%

30%

35%

Mar-02 Nov-02 Nov-03 PSA Target

2005

Progress against the PSA Targets for

ethnic minority staff in the SCS

0%

2%

4%

6%

8%

10%

12%

Mar-02 Nov-02 Nov-03 PSA Target

2005

Over the last 2 years, we have made significant improvements to the proportion of females in

the SCS, a rise of 7.2%.

The absolute number of women in the SCS has increased from 11 to 17 since November 2002

with the percentage of women increasing to 23.3%.

The percentage of females in the Top Management Posts, i.e. the number of SCS staff with a

JESP score of 13 and above, is 26.7%. This exceeds the target of 23%.

The number of ethnic minority staff has increased to 7, a rise of 2.6% since November 2002.

We have exceeded the PSA target on representation of ethnic minority staff, but we must

highlight the volatility of these statistics, as they are based on very small numbers.

Due to an increase in the number of SCS, the percentage of staff with a disability has dropped

slightly to 1.4%.

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SECTION 5: COMPARISON OF DFIDS PERFORMANCE ON DIVERSITY WITH OTHER

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

The Civil Service and DFID figures provided below are as at April 2003.

Please note that in the tables below, the percentage of ethnic minority staff is taken as a proportion of

the staff with a reported ethnic background. This is the method adopted by the Cabinet Office,against which the current Civil Service Wide data and targets are based.

Further to the current benchmarking exercise, in future reports HR will widen the group of

comparable departments to include other organisations with a similar make up and reach to DFID.

All Staff in Post

TOTAL

STAFF

GENDER ETHNICITY DISABILITY

Total

Females

%

Females

Total

EthnicMinority

%

EthnicMinority

%

EthnicityUnknow

n

Total

Disabled

%

Disabled

DFID

(Apr 03)

1,640 790 48.1% 170 12.1% 15.6% 20 1.4%

Cabinet Office

(Apr 03)

2,260 1050 46.5% 220 11.3% 15.9% 40 1.9%

DCMS

(Apr 03)

720 310 43.4% 60 10.1% 17.2% 10 1.5%

DFES

(Apr 03)

5,220 3030 58.1% 630 13.9% 13.4% 280 5.4%

FCO

(Apr 03)

6,020 2400 39.9% 340 7% 18.6% 120 2%

DTI

(Apr 03)

10,240 4820 47.1% 1160 15.1% 25.1% 520 5.1%

Civil Service

Average

(Apr 03)

542,710 283,860 52.3% 28,310 8% 35% 19,510 3.6%

*Please note that these figures are drawn from central sources and the Cabinet Office round figures to the nearest 10.

The ethnic background of around 35% of civil service staff has not been reported, whereas in DFID this is 21%.

With almost an even representation of females, DFID is faring well against other government

departments.

DFID is performing particularly well in the representation of ethnic minority staff, with only

DFES and DTI outperforming DFID in the proportion of ethnic minority staff. DFID is one of the poorest performers on disability among this comparator group, with only

1.7% of staff with a declared disability. Some departments have achieved a representation of

over 5% disabled staff, with the Civil Service average at 3.6% of staff overall.

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Senior Civil Service

TOTAL

STAFF

GENDER ETHNICITY DISABILITY

Total

Females

%

Females

Total

Ethnic

Minority

%

Ethnic

Minority

%

Ethnicity

Unknow

n

Total

Disabled

%

Disabled

DFID (Apr 03) 60 10 20.6% # ** 9.1% 12.7% ** 1.6%

Cabinet Office

(Apr 03)

190 60 30.1% 10 3.7% 11.8% ** 0.5%

DCMS

(Apr 03)

30 10 30% 0 0% 13.3% 0 0%

DFES (Apr 03) 130 50 37.6% 10 4.2% 9.8% ** 2.3%

FCO

(Apr 03)

470 60 12.2% ** 0.7% 8.6% 10 1.7%

DTI

(Apr 03)

300 90 29.7% 10 3.7% 35.8% 10 3.4%

Civil ServiceAverage

(Apr 03)

4260(3700

Gender*)

990 26.7% 90 2.8% 23.7% 70 1.7%

Includes HCS P&P, HCS F/T & DFID paid seconded staff, as reported centrally to Cabinet Office. Excludes all other staff types.

# Please note that these figures are drawn from central sources and the Cabinet Office round figures to the nearest 10.

*The Cabinet Office calculates the proportion of females in the SCS using a different database than the one used for ethnic minority or

disabled staff, hence the different totals for the number of SCS in the Civil Service overall.

** Asterisks are used to signify a number less than 5.

When departmental targets were set in 1999/2000, DFID recognised that the 35% Civil

Service target 2004/5 was unachievable and agreed to set a lower one of 30%. Even so, we

have not achieved that target yet and we do not fare particularly well in the proportion of

females in the SCS in comparison to the other government departments in this group and thecivil service average. To achieve the civil service wide target of 35% with the current SCS

complement, we require an addition of 8 more female staff. It is notable that the FCO, with

overseas service a key feature of career progression, fares poorly in respect of women in the

SCS.

DFID is leading the field on ethnic minority representation, with 11.5% of our SCS from an

ethnic minority background. We are exceeding both the Civil Service average and the target

of 3.2%, as well as outperforming all other departments within this comparator group, but the

actual number of staff is small and vulnerable to change.

DFID has 1.6% of our SCS staff with a declared disability and although this is roughly in line

with the Civil Service average, we are not performing well against the target of 3% disabled

staff in the SCS or against the other departments within this comparator group.

As the total number of SCS in DFID is relatively small, this leaves our diversity figures

particularly vulnerable to the smallest of staff changes, therefore, we cannot take for granted

the progress made in any of the above areas. We must continue to improve our performance

on diversity and enhance the proportion of under-represented groups in the SCS and the

grades which typically feed the SCS, i.e. A1, A2 and Fast Stream.

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SECTION 6: OVERVIEW OF STAFFING AND EQUALITY PROOFING

6.1 ADVERTISING

Ethnic Press

Prior to June 2003, we placed 9 recruitment adverts within specialist ethnic press, through the Ethnic

Media Group, with each advert costing around 2730. These adverts attracted 10% ethnic minority

applicants, slightly less than the proportion of ethnic minority applicants we attracted overall, 13.6%.

Of the 68 successful candidates who returned an advertising response form, the responses as to how

they became aware of the post were as follows:

DFID Website 25

Guardian 14

Economist 12

Word Of Mouth 8Herald 4

Other Website 3

Society of Archivists 1

Nepali Times 1

Of the 8 ethnic minority recruits between June 2002 and May 2003, none of them viewed the advert

within the specialist ethnic press, but generally in the Guardian, Economist and DFIDs website.

This is likely to be due to the professional nature of these posts.

This evidence suggests that it is not cost effective to continue advertising in specialist ethnic press,

given that we are attracting and recruiting a reasonable number of ethnic minority staff by othermeans.

However, we want maintain a profile among ethnic minority applicants and one alternative is to place

a biannual/annual advert in the specialist ethnic press to raise awareness of DFID as an employer.

It is also proposed that we continue to advertise in specialist ethnic press for large-scale administrative

recruitments in Palace Street to ensure we are attracting candidates from a diverse range of

communities.

Planned Action: Continue advertising in specialist ethnic press for administrative

recruitments and place annual/biannual profile-raising adverts

Planned Action: Investigate the possibility of other types of targeted advertising, e.g. Radio

Disability Press

We have not placed a sufficient number of adverts in specialist disability press to undertake any

significant analysis of the results. However, due to DFIDs poor performance on disability and the

continuing inability to recruit candidates with a disability, it is proposed that we advertise every post

within Disability Press, until a detailed analysis can be undertaken to determine how effective this is.

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Planned Action: Consider advertising all posts within Disability Now for a period of 6

months.

Planned Action: Investigate other possibilities of attracting disabled applicants, e.g.

networking with specialist disability schools and organisations.

6.2 RECRUITMENT ANALYSIS

Fast Stream

Fast Stream recruitment is generally undertaken by the Cabinet Office. The following table gives a

breakdown of Fast Stream staff that joined DFID between June 2002 and May 2003.

Total % Females % Ethnic Minority

Abercrombie House 1 0% 0%

Palace Street 21 61.9% 4.8%

Overseas 1 0% 0%

Total 23 45% 4.3%

External Recruitment

Methodology

Within the period June 2002 and May 2003, DFID commenced 69 recruitment exercises. However,

18 of these exercises are not included in this analysis as 10 were suspended due to a lack of suitable

candidates and the remaining 8 are excluded due to the unavailability of all the necessary statistical

information. Hence this analysis covers 51 external recruitment exercises undertaken to fill 96 posts,

the majority of which were professional advisory or specialist posts in the senior grades.

Each of the recruitment exercises attracted a number of candidates, ranging from 4 to 435. There

were a total of 4889 applicants for the 51 recruitments, averaging 66 applicants per exercise.

Percentage of applicants successful at each stage of recruitment

Applicants Successful at Sift Successful at

assess. centres/tests

Successful at

interview

Appointed

4889 8.2% 3.4% 2.4% 2% (96)

Gender

Gender split of candidates successful at each stage of recruitment

% at each

stageApplicants Successful at

Sift

Successful at

assess.centres/test

Successful at

interview

Appointed

Females 33% 30% 33% 34.5% 37.5%

Males 63% 64% 64% 63% 58%

Gender

Unknown

4% 6% 3% 2.5% 4.5%

* Much of the data in this analysis was collected retrospectively. As DFID now holds all diversity information in a

separate questionnaire, which was not completed by all applicants, it was necessary to put a number of candidates into a

gender unknown category, which explains the difference in percentages between male and female.

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Male/Female success rate at different stages of recruitment, by the field of candidates at that stage

% Successful at sift

of initial field,

% Successful at

assess.centres/tests, of those

who passed sift

% Successful at interview, of

those who passed

assess.centres/tests

Females 7% 48% 72%

Males 8% 44% 69%

We appointed more males than females 58% in comparison to 37.5%.

Although there were significantly less female applicants than male, females fared slightly

better after the initial sift stage than their male counterparts.

48% of females who passed the sift stage were successful at the tests, in comparison to 44%

of the males. 72% of the females who passed the tests/assessment centres were successful at

the interview stage, in comparison to 69% of males.

Ethnicity

Ethnic split of candidates successful at each stage of recruitment

% at each stage Applicants Successful

at Sift

Successful at


Successful

at interview

Appointed

Black 6.6% (323) 2.7% 1.8% 0.1% 1%

Asian 4.7% (229) 2% 3.6% 3.4% 4.2%

Mixed 1.3% (63) 0.7% 1.2% 0% 0%

Any Other 1% (51) 2% 3.6% 3.4% 3.1%

Ethnic

Minority staff

(total)

13.6% (666) 7.5% 10% 7.6% 8.3%

White 24.4% (1192) 32.9% 47% 54% 60.4%Unknown 62% (2365) 56.1% 43% 36% 31.3%

Success rate of each ethnic group at each stage of recruitment, by the field of candidates at that stage

% Successful at sift, of

initial applicants

Successful at

assess.centres/tests, of

those who passed sift

Successful at interview, of

those who passed

assess/centres/tests

Black 3.4% 27.3% 33%

Asian 3.5% 75% 66%

Mixed 4.8% 0% 0%

Any Other 15.7% 75% 66%Ethnic Minority

staff (total)

4.5% 57% 53%

White 11.2% 60% 81%

Unknown 7.4% 32% 60%

8.3% of appointed staff were of an ethnic minority background, 31.3% were white and 60.4%

were of an unknown ethnic background.

White candidates appear to be slightly more successful at the test stages, with 60% of those

who passed the initial sift successfully completing the tests or assessment centres, compared

to 57% of ethnic minority candidates and 32% of candidates of an unknown ethnic origin.

There is a greater disparity between the success rates at interview stage, with 53% of the ethnicminority candidates who passed the test/assessment centre successful at the interview stage,

compared to 81% of white candidates and 60% of candidates of an unknown ethnic origin.

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Asian and Any Other ethnic background applicants tended to be more successful at the

test/assessment centre and interview stages than Black applicants. Only 27.3% of the Black

applicants that passed the initial sift stage were successful in the tests or assessment centres,

compared to 75% of Asian applicants and 75% of those of an Any Other ethnic background.

33% of the Black candidates that passed the test/assessment centres were successful at the

interview stage, in comparison to 66% Asian and 66% Any Other ethnic background.

Candidates of an Any Other ethnic background, although the smallest ethnic group ofapplicants, were the most successful ethnic minority group throughout the recruitment

exercise overall almost as successful as White candidates. The candidates from a mixed

background were the least successful of all groups.

Disability

Disabled candidates successful at each stage of recruitment

% at each stage Applicants Successful

at Sift

Successful at

tests/tests

Successful at

interview

Appointed

Disabled Staff 0.5% (23) 0.1% (3) 0.6% (1) 0% 0%

Success rate of disabled staff at each stage of recruitment, by the field of candidates at that stage

Successful at

sift, of initial

field

Successful at

assess.centres/tests, of

those who passed sift

Successful at interview, of

those who passed


Disabled Staff 13% (1) 100% (1) 0%

No applicants with a declared disability made it past the interview stage. The majority of

disabled candidates fell out at the initial sift stage.

Planned Action: Investigate why each of these disabled candidates was unsuccessful.

Planned Action: Review approaches to take account of diversity within advertising,

external recruitments, postings and promotions, secondments and

interchange.

Planned Action: HR staff involved in recruitment and selection to attend formal equality

legislation and fair selection training.

Planned Action: HR and ISSD to ensure the Recruitment module will be able to undertake

a full analysis of recruitment for 2003/4, including age.

6.3 POSTINGS AND PROMOTIONS

DFID introduced a new postings and promotions system in April 2003, which resulted in substantial

changes to the overall running of the posting and promotion processes. Prior to the introduction of

the new system, individuals applied for posts when they became available on either promotion or a

level transfer. The postings and promotions awarded over the year were analysed together. A brief

analysis ofPostings and Promotions for January 2002 to April 2003 can be found atAnnex C.

Postings and Promotions are now dealt with separately, with a promotion board carried out once a

year and posting clusters several times a year. Promotion is now undertaken generically to grade and

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no longer to individual posts. Posts are collated into clusters and all staff at the grade, or staff with a

promotion ticket to that grade, can apply for the posts available.

A full analysis of postings made in 2003 will be carried out in 2004, as the numbers are currently too

small to carry out an effective evaluation. An overview of the first promotion round, undertaken in

May 2003, is below.

PROMOTIONS ANALYSIS: 2003

Statistical overview of successful candidates in Promotion Round: 2003

Abercrombie House Palace Street Overseas Overall

Male Female Total Male Female Total Male Femal

e

Total Male Femal

e

Total

Band A 2 2 4 8 6 14 4 6 10 14 14 28

Band B 5 6 11 6 9 15 3 9 12 14 24 38

Band C 3 18 21 7 4 11 0 1 1 10 23 33

Total 10 26 36 21 19 40 7 16 23 38 61 99*Please note that these were the grades from which staff were promoted

Abercrombie House

Of the 88 applicants for promotion, 40.9% (36) were successful. Only 6 of these applicants

were at the B1 level or above.

72% of all promoted staff were female and 70% of these females promoted were in Band C.

There was no significant difference between the success rate of full and part time staff.

16% (6) of AH staff promoted were from an ethnic minority background and ethnic minority

staff had a significantly higher success rate than white staff.

Palace Street

Of the 116 applicants for promotion, 25.6% (40) were successful.

47.5% of promoted staff were female. Although there were less female applicants, females

had a higher success rate in the majority of grades than men.

15% of successful candidates were of an ethnic minority background. Although there were

fewer applicants, ethnic minority staff generally had a higher success rate for promotion than

white staff.

There was no significant difference between the success rate of full and part time staff.

There was no disparity within the age group of staff promoted. 16-24 year olds had the

highest success rate, although there were a lower number of applicants within that band.

Overseas

Of the 86 applicants for promotion, 26.7% (23) were successful.

69.6% of all promotions overseas were female. Although there were less female than male

applicants, females had a higher success rate in most of the grades

8.7% of successfully promoted staff overseas were from an ethnic minority background.

Although there were more applicants aged between 25-44, the success rate of this group was

significantly higher than the success rate of staff aged 45-59, 30.7% compared to 13%.

6.4 SECONDMENTS

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At November 2003, there were more than double the number of outward secondments (98) than

inward (41). There are significantly more SCS and A1 staff sent outwards than brought inwards.

Full statistical tables and analysis can be found inAnnex A, Part 2.

6.5 EQUAL PAY AUDIT

DFID undertook an Equal Pay Audit in early 2003. There were no significant pay gaps (i.e.

variations of 5% or more) across the majority of grades for staff below the SCS on the basis

of analysis by gender, ethnicity, disability or working pattern and investigations of patterns of

basic pay differences (i.e. variations of 3% or more) confirms no bias on any of these

differences.

While these conclusions relate only to HCS staff, HRD places equal priority on non-

discrimination in the pay systems for Staff Appointed in Country. Regional Directors must

certify in their Annual Statements that SAIC pay systems do not discriminate on grounds of

gender, ethnicity, disability or working pattern.

The abridged version of this report, including the Equal Pay Action Plan can be found at Annex 3.

6.6 ANALYSIS OF PERFORMANCE BONUS/SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS

An analysis of the outcome of the Performance Bonus Scheme was undertaken by Statistics

Department for 2002. There were no significant differences within the staff nominated for a bonus or

those who actually received a bonus on the basis of gender, age, ethnicity or working pattern. Asummary analysis of the scheme, including a statistical breakdown of the results can be found at

Annex C, Part 3 of this report.

The Special Achievement Award system, which was put in place June 2003, has replaced the

previous Performance Bonus Scheme. Individual and team payments have already been awarded for

work undertaken between January 2002 and April 2003. A full analysis of the new Special

Achievement Awards system will be undertaken in 2004.

6.7 MATERNITY LEAVE CASES

Jan 2001 September 2003

Within this period, there have been 65 cases of Maternity Leave.

88% of the staff who have taken maternity leave are within the age band 31-40 with 9% (2)

within the age band 21-30 and 3% within the age band 41-50.

Of the 54 staff whose period of Maternity Leave has finished, 15% went off on a Career

Break and 2% (1 female) left the organisation. 42% of staff returned on a full-time basis,

with the remaining 41% of staff returning on reduced hours.

Advisory staff are more likely to return on a full-time basis (64%) than administrative staff

(34%) and are less likely to return on reduced-hours working (22% compared with 50%). A

relevant factor may be that 65% of advisory staff are based overseas, where they are less

likely to take a career break or return on reduced hours.

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6.8 DISCIPLINARY AND GRIEVANCE CASES

Disciplinary, Grievance and Bullying/Harassment Cases: October 2002 September 2003

There were 4 disciplinary cases, 3 grievance cases and 2 bullying/harassment cases within this

period. There was no disparity on the basis of gender, ethnicity, age and disability.

6.9 LEAVERS AND DISMISSALS

Leavers: October 2002 to September 2003

There were 98 leavers within this period. 11% (11) of these were Fixed Term Staff.

69% of leavers were located in Palace Street, with 14% in Abercrombie House and 15%

overseas.

A full statistical analysis of leavers can be found atAnnex A, part 3

Dismissals: October 2002 to September 2003

There was only 1 dismissal case within this period. This was a male member of staff on a fixed-term

contract. His ethnic background was unknown.

6.10 EXIT QUESTIONNAIRE ANALYSIS

Key Messages

There were 68 questionnaires returned, out of the 155 staff that left the organisation

between June 2002 and May 2003. This meant a total response rate of 44%

There was an equal gender split of respondents.

41% of respondents were aged 55-64, which is expected as 32% marked Retirement or

Early Retirement as their primary reason for leaving.

The number of ethnic minority respondents is too small to carry out an analysis.

21% (14) of respondents declared Dissatisfaction with Senior Management as a factor; yet

only 3% (2) of respondents claimed this as the primary reason for leaving DFID.

18% (12) of respondents declared Lack of Promotion/Career Development Opportunitiesas a factor, with 7% of leavers quoting this as their most important reason.

16% (11) of leavers stated Change of Career as a factor, with 7% (5) of staff stating this as

the main reason for leaving. 91% of these respondents were female.

14.5% quoted Travel Time as a factor, with 4% saying this was their primary reason for

leaving. The majority of these respondents were in Palace Street.

For a detailed analysis of the Exit Questionnaire system, please refer toAnnex A, part 4

Planned Action: Improve the format and structure of current questionnaire and ensure the

process of issuing a questionnaire is closely followed.

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Planned Action: Review the delivery of follow-up exit interviews, with the aim of

undertaking one with all staff that have left for reasons other than

retirement or end of contract.

6.11 STAFF TURNOVER AND RETENTION ANALYSIS

Staff Turnover October to September 2003

HCS Permanent and Pensionable Staff

There were 1673 HCS P&P staff as at 1 October 2003,consisting of 812 females and 861 males. The

total number of HCS P&P leavers between October 2002 and September 2003 was 87, 44 females

and 43 males.

Hence the total annual turnover for P&P staff in 2002/3 is 5.2%, 5.4% for females and 5% for males.

HCS Fixed Term Staff

The annual turnover for HCS F/Term staff is 16.2% overall, 25% for females and 10% for males.

By Location

Male Female Overall

Abercrombie House 1.9% 3.1% 2.8%

Palace Street 6.9% 8.5% 7.7%

Overseas 2.1% 4% 3.3%

By Ethnicity

The annual turnover of ethnic minority staff is 4.2%

The annual turnover of white staff is 2.9%

The annual turnover of staff with an unknown ethnic background is 5.3%

By Working Pattern

The annual turnover for part time staff is relatively high at 8.9% (10) overall, 17.5% (7) for

Palace Street and 4.5% (3) for Abercrombie House. All of these part-time leavers are female.

Staff Retention August 2003

Length of Service Analysis: August 2003

Males Females Total

Abercrombie House 15 years 11 years 13 years

Palace Street 12 years 9 years 10.5 years

Overseas 9.5 years 7 years 8.5 years

TOTAL 12 years 9 years 10.5 years

In DFID, males tend to have a longer length of service overall and this is evident in all

locations. The average length of service in Abercrombie House is longer than in the other locations.

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Planned Action: In future, benchmark our Turnover and Retention rates against

equivalent organisations.

SECTION 7: FORMAL REPORT AGAINST THE RACE EQUALITY SCHEME

The Race Relations Amendment Act 2000 came into force in May 2002, by which point public

bodies, including DFID, were required to have a Race Equality Scheme in place which outlines howDFID plans to meet the particular elements of the legislation and comply with the general and

specific duties of the act. In addition to the legal requirement to publish the results of monitoring

specific HR processes by race/ethnicity, DFID is committed to reporting progress against the Race

Equality Scheme on an annual basis.

DFID will formally review its Race Equality Scheme in 2005, three years after it was originally

launched. However, we are continually re-assessing the scheme to ensure it covers all relevant

functions.

SPECIFIC MONITORING DUTIES

Under the Race Relations Amendment Act 2000, employers in the Public Service are required to

monitor race/ethnicity within specific HR systems and processes to ensure no bias or discrimination

occurs. In DFID, this monitoring was undertaken as part of our general diversity analysis, which can

be found at:

Staff in Post (section 6.2)

Recruitment (section 7.2)

Applicants for promotions (section 7.3)

Applicants for training

Grievance & disciplinary cases (section 7.9) Leavers and dismissals (section 7.10).

The one area where DFID was unable to meet our monitoring obligations for the period 2002/3 is

access to training. As part of a major exercise to introduce a fully integrated HR database we are

working on developing a training records system which will allow cross checking of training data

against the ethnicity of staff, which is not possible with the current records systems. Training and

Development Unit (TDU), therefore, cannot provide accurate statistics for this period but it is hoped

that the system will be available for the next round of statistical collection. The new system should

also further enable TDU to capture data on training organised independently by individuals and

departments, information that is currently unavailable to TDU.

In the meantime, we need to refer to anecdotal evidence for the period of 2002/3. As part of the

maintenance of our Investor in People status, DFID has undertaken a series of mini reviews of

departments that provide a temperature check on many aspects of training and development

activity. All these reviews report that staff feel confident that there is equal access to training

irrespective of race, ethnicity, age, working hours etc. One quote is Im optimistic you can see

people from all ethnic backgrounds being promoted in DFID. It encourages you to look forward,

gives you something to aim at.

Future provision of training data

The Training Module of the new HR database is scheduled for phase 4 of the rollout and this will

provide data of high integrity to meet our legal requirement. The design and development of the

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module will soon now underway. However, DFID must meet its monitoring obligations in the

meantime. Therefore, until the new HR database is fully rolled-out, TDU propose to work with

Departmental Training Liaison Officers on the collation of statistics and will continue to collect

anecdotal evidence as above.

Planned Action: TDU to proceed with manual collection of statistics until the new trainingmodule is in place.

SERVICE AREAS

On publication of our Race Equality Scheme in May 2002, DFID identified three departments that

have direct involvement with the UK public in a service-related capacity. Information and Civil

Society Department, Overseas Pensions Department and Procurement Department each outlined

within the Race Equality Scheme how they will, where practically possible, proactively seek to

engage various different communities in society within the particular functions that they perform.

An overview of action taken since the publication of the Race Equality Scheme is below:

Information and Civil Society Department

The most relevant development is that we now have a Strategic Grant Agreement in place with a

group called Connections for Development (CfD). The Strategic Grant Agreement was jointly

negotiated between DFID and CfD and it aims to support and develop the contribution from the UK

Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) community to international development, through awareness

raising, capacity building and dialogue. The agreement lasts for three years and will involve ongoing

dialogue and monitoring as well as a final evaluation of achievements.

DFID has been proactive in supporting the formation of CfD and this has involved regular meetings

and dialogue with representatives from UK BME civil society. CfD is a new membership-based

organisation working across BME communities in the UK. It is responsible for raising awareness of,

and promoting participation of BME groups and communities in international development.

As a component of the DFID strategy on 'Building Support for Development', we have been co-

producing the 'Target 2015' booklets to build awareness of and support for the Millennium

Development Goals within the UK faith communities. Versions of the booklet have been produced in

partnership with Jewish, Sikh, Muslim, Hindu, Catholic and other Christian groups.

Overseas Pensions Department

Overseas Pensions Department administers the payment of pensions to approximately 23,000

colonial pensioners. The pensioners are extremely diverse in ethnic and national origin. We strive to

ensure that we treat all of our pensioners inclusively and to a high, professional standard. Our

Customer Satisfaction Survey has shown that 98% of our pensioners rated our service as satisfactory.

We continue in our efforts to maintain this high standard.

Procurement Department

DFID keeps its procurement policy under review in the light of guidance from the Office of

Government Commerce (OGC) and the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE). DFID follows the

EU procurement directives and widely advertises contracts welcoming interest from all sections of

the business community.

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DFID contracts are awarded in a fair and transparent manner to ensure consistency with EU Treaty

principles of non-discrimination. All contracts issued in the UK, under the laws of England and

Wales, require suppliers to comply with all statutes, including the Race Relations Act. Where Race

Equality is concerned the supplier must adopt standards and procedures equivalent to DFID policy.

HRD has been in discussion with Procurement Department about ways to widen the field ofconsultants who apply for our contracts and methods of monitoring the issuing of contracts to ensure

diversity.

Planned Action: Procurement Department to consider undertaking a monitoring exercise

to determine the diversity of solo consultants.

TRAINING ON RACE RELATIONS ACT

Training and Development Unit continue to devise ways to ensure that DFID staff are provided with

access to information and training on their duty to promote race equality under the Race Relations

Amendment Act 2000. Details of DFIDs Policy surrounding the Act, and the General Duty are

found on the Training and Development website and the Diversity webpage on Insight and staff are

made aware of the Act, and their responsibility, in core training they attend e.g. in sessions on

Induction, Reporting Officer Training, and Introduction to Management Training.

Planned Action: Trainers in TDU to attend equality legislation training to ensure full and

accurate knowledge of diversity legislation and its impact.

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SECTION 8: REPORT ON ROLE OF DIVERSITY CHAMPION, DIVERSITY ADVISOR

AND DIVERSITY ADVISORY GROUPS

Diversity Champion

DFIDs current Diversity Champion on the Management Board is Nicola Brewer, Director GeneralRegional Programmes. In her role as Diversity Champion, Nicola helps DFID to live up to its

commitment to value diversity.

Over the past year, Nicola has focused on explaining how DFIDs diversity vision relates to the

Departments business, and on developing diversity skills through formal and informal training

including mentoring. She has supported Directors with the diversity aspects of their delivery plans,

networking across the Department, including our overseas offices, and with other Diversity

Champions across Whitehall to encourage and spread good diversity practice. She has also helped to

evaluate the impact and outcomes of diversity initiatives, providing regular and direct feedback to her

Management Board colleagues.

Particular achievements for the Department in the last 12 months include: the increasing number of

overseas offices which have voluntarily and enthusiastically committed themselves to action plans

and vision statements or goals on diversity; the take up of diversity training, mentoring and spread of

inclusive management skills; the use of 360 degree exercises for feedback on diversity issues; the

routine inclusion of diversity objectives in Personal Development Plans; the increasing number of

staff who see themselves as informal champions for diversity; and the re-focusing of the activities of

the General Advisory Group on Diversity.

Nicola works closely with those responsible for specific aspects of our diversity policy in HR Division,

the HR Committee, and DFIDs two diversity groups, the General Advisory Group on Diversity

(GAGD) and the Staff Appointed in Country Advisory Group. As a member of the GAGD and as

Diversity Champion, Nicola gets to hear directly about the range of diversity issues that concern DFID

staff. This enables her to negotiate changes with the relevant people across DFID, takingup issues with

her Management Board colleagues where necessary.

Over the next year Nicola will be working closely with DFIDs new Diversity Adviser, Kamaljit

Kerridge-Poonia, and the GAGD to produce a short statement of DFIDs diversity strategy.

Diversity Adviser

Kamaljit Kerridge-Poonia started as the Diversity Adviser for DFID in October 2003. Her role is notonly to advise HR on diversity issues but to also develop a clearer approach to diversity in DFIDs

core business. This will focus on how the business of DFID can more effectively engage with issues

of diversity, identifying gaps and undertaking projects to develop capacity and move the department

forward.

Kamaljit works closely with Nicola Brewer as the Diversity Champion and the GAGD. She is also

keen to develop good networks and working relationships with other people in the department

interested in this work. During the next year Kamaljit will be concentrating on a number of projects

including: a project on career progression for women, ethnic minority and disabled staff, promoting

the understanding and awareness of issues for disabled people (both in employment and in service

delivery), developing a resource base on diversity for staff, and overall raising awareness of diversityand supporting managers to become more creative in the way they encourage an inclusive working

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environment. She will also be working with the Diversity Champion to develop a Diversity strategy

for the department.

General Advisory Group on Diversity

The GAGD is a ginger group to promote diversity within DFID. It does this by:

i) as a group, finding good examples of how to promote diversity both within and outside DFID and

support their introduction into DFID;

ii) as individuals, being visible champions of diversity in DFID, committing time in their annual

work plans to working with the group and promoting diversity within DFID in their work.

The group does not duplicate, displace or take on a monitoring role for work on promoting diversity

that is being done already, for example within the Human Resources Committee, HRD more

generally and TDU.

The focus of the group in 2002/3 was:

Creating links with other organisations, which have experience and ideas to offer DFID. We

have joined the Civil Service Race Equality Network CSREN - and have regular contact

with diversity champions and others responsible for diversity in Other Government

Departments;

Working on a number of key areas: on accountability we contributed to the work on the Equal

Pay Audit, reviewed training and development work including work on competencies;

Developing in DFID an understanding of diversity as a tool for management and

organisational effectiveness;

Developing a communication strategy within DFID to promote diversity.

The group does not have sole responsibility for delivering diversity in DFID. However, throughout

the year, the volume of communication with members of the group has increased. A measure of the

success and increased profile of the group has been in the large number of people who expressed an

interest in joining the group to refresh its membership at the end of the year.

Many different departments in DFID are now producing their own diversity strategies, and often turn

to GAGD as a first port of call for reactions and ideas. Individuals also look to the group to press for

action on a range of management issues, knowing that they will get a sympathetic hearing and that as

members of GAGD they can speak with some personal authority. GAGD members shall be

considering their priorities for the coming year at our meeting in March.

Full details of the meetings held during the year and the subject discussed can be found at:

http://insight/human_resources/default.asp?hrd/hrpd/diversity/home.htm

SAIC Advisory Group on Diversity

The Staff Appointed in Country Advisory (SAIC) Group was set up to advise on a whole range of

issues relating to personnel management, career development and training of SAIC, with a view to

maximising their contribution to the development goals of DFID. The membership of the Group

includes 6 SAIC elected to represent regions, Regional Directors, a Chief Adviser and a HR

representative who provides the Secretariat.

The Group has considered in depth and produced definitive papers on: arrangements for setting SAIC

pay; consistent employment standards; mobility and development opportunities and expatriate living

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allowance. It has also sought to reduce the differences of treatment between those on FCO and DFID

contracts, and to move as many SAIC as possible onto DFID contracts where practicable. In more

general terms it has sought to resolve any problems and anomalies identified by overseas offices.

For the future, the Group will continue to take a practical approach, but with many SAIC terms and

conditions issues tackled, would concentrate rather more on a monitoring role. SAIC members will

be identifying the key issues from the policy papers issued so far and reporting back to the Grouphow these issues are being progressed in their regions. It will also be considering closer links with

the General Advisory Group on Diversity.

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SECTION 9: DIVERSITY TRAINING

As part of DFIDs commitment to promote diversity across the department, we have continued to

provide Diversity Awareness Training as part of our ongoing Management Development Programme.

The overall objective of the training has been to raise awareness and understanding of diversityamongst staff and to help develop and establish ways in which diversity can help DFID work towards

achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Focus Consultancy have been contracted to provide

this training since August 2002 and have since delivered the Diversity course to approximately 1460

staff.

The Diversity Awareness Training continues to be generally well received, offering staff the

opportunity to discuss issues they face and experience, in a confidential and supportive environment.

The programmes are currently being evaluated and DFID continues to respond to the emerging issues

raised in feedback.

Through the previous 12- month period some issues have been common across a number ofprogrammes. They are:

work/life balance (related to long hours and stress);

gradism;

gender (but less so in more recent courses);

SAIC issues (when courses run overseas, or when we have a colleague from overseas on

a UK course - not when UK only course this sentence not very clear)

Other issues such as race/ethnicity, age, religion, sexual orientation and disability have beendiscussed, but interestingly remain less prominent than other themes.

What next?

We are aware that the Diversity Awareness Training is merely a starting point to help people

understand and develop skills relating to diversity issues and consequently we have started to

consider what else may be required by DFID and its staff. We have asked Focus Consultancy to

look at what we might do next. Focus will provide DFID with a report, based on their consultation

and focus group meetings with staff across DFID, and recommendations that reflect best practice, in

the near future.

If staff wish to make any comments on their experience of diversity training please contactScott

Gemmell in Training and Development Unit.

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SECTION 10: QUALITATIVE ANALYSIS OF STAFF PERCEPTIONS

During 2003 management information around staff perceptions relating to diversity has beencaptured from a range of sources. The headline messages from the merging findings are summarised

below: -

360 Degree Process (SCS/A1/A2)

Of the 12 questions relating (at least in part) to diversity matters, 4 related to the commitment andattitude to diversity, whilst the other 8 indicated behaviours/practices to encourage and supportdiversity.

Overall findings

Sound progress has been achieved in obtaining commitment and positive attitudes to diversitywithin DFID (Questions 57, 24, 30 and 35).

The data shows on average, 92.6% of all respondents rated the four questions, reflectingattitudes to diversity as strength. SCS led by example with the highest rating (93.5%).

Responses to the 8 questions, indicating day-to-day behaviours and practices, (Questions 69,

60, 58, 54, 25, 23, 17 and 16) show that while we have made substantial progress in adopting

positive attitudes to diversity, the focus now should be on aligning behaviours appropriately.

There is still scope for improvement in giving effect to realising the full benefits of diversity,but the picture could be summarised as the spirit is certainly willing, but the substancecould be stronger.

There needs to be greater awareness of the impact of communication on others relating toDiversity.

Behaviours need to be brought more closely in line with the attitudes (90% plus) to ensure afull embedding of a diversity culture within DFID.

The full analysis of the 360 process can be found at Annex D.

Management Survey 2002

The analysis of findings from the third departmental management survey in January 2003 provides

further insights into the level of progress being made towards embedding diversity. The items cover

various aspects of diversity ranging from high-level values incorporating diversity - to departmental

working styles and patterns. Specifically, the items read:

My department shows it shares DFIDs values (Leadership section)

My department actively supports flexible working patterns (Leadership section)

My department welcomes diverse opinions/views (Teamwork section)

Overall Findings

Overall, it appears that we are making good progress towards embedding diversity issues

within the working practices of the various departments.

Average scores to all three questions were high suggesting that, on average, departments tend

to show they share DFIDs values, that they tend to actively support flexible working

patterns, and that they tend to welcome diverse opinions/views.

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The data analysed indicates that we are indeed making progress towards embedding diversity.

The high average scores for the 3 diversity-related items suggest that behaviours are generally

in line with our diversity objectives.

However, there is still evidence of individuals or departments failing to display the

appropriate behaviours.

Verbatim comments suggest that there are pockets of excellence where management are

fully supportive of flexible working patterns, where business needs allow for this. Manymembers of staff identified flexible working as an area of improvement, which suggests an

unequal implementation of the flexible working policy across the organisation or within

individual departments.

We should continue to provide further input on how theory can be put into practice and

encourage weaker departments to learn from those that appear to be stronger in this area.

Planned Action: Ensure that managers are reporting against work-life balance as in thefirst Core Behaviour, Working with Others, within DFIDs CompetencyFramework.

HR Benchmarking

The emerging results of the recent HR Customer Survey, undertaken as part of a wider benchmarking

exercise, indicate that the current arrangements relating to Diversity and Equality in DFID are

viewed positively. The wider report is not yet finalised, but further details will be published on

Insight in due course.

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SECTION 11: GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES, NETWORKS/AFFILIATIONS AND

POSITIVE ACTION MEASURES

Good Practice Examples

Departments and offices within DFID have led the way in investigating how effective they are atmanaging diversity. They have taken the initiative to record good practice examples on diversity,

with the aim of sharing these with other departments, with some even developing a diversity strategy

for their particular area. These departments include:

DFID Nepal

DFID Zambia

Asia Directorate

DFID Bangladesh

Enterprise Development

International Trade Department

Procurement Department

DFID Uganda

United Nations Commonwealth Department

You can access full details of these good practice examples inAnnex E, or share some of your own

by completing the template that can be found on the Diversity web page on Insight.

External Networks and Affiliations

DFID works closely with various external organisations and networks that support us in our effortson diversity, equality and inclusiveness. Examples of these include:

Opportunity Now (Gender)

Employers Forum on Age (Age)

Stonewall (Sexual Orientation)

Organisation Resources Counselling Inc (ORC)

Civil Service Race Equality Network (Race/Ethnicity)

Cabinet Office Disability Working Group (Disability)

Positive Action Measures

DFID continues to participate in various positive action schemes that target and develop staff from

under-represented groups. A review of the effectiveness of these measures is currently underway by

Focus Consultancy and the full report will be available in 2004. Schemes we support include:

Pathways

National Mentoring Consortium

Civil Service Disability Bursary Scheme

Ethnic Minority Bursary Scheme (internal)

Windsor Fellowship Programme

diversity report 2004

Documents