The Scottish Government

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CHAPTER 5 - THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT AS AN EMPLOYER

51. The Scottish Government employs around 8000 staff within its core Directorates, Agencies and Associated Directorates and agencies. Our role as an employer is subject to the disability equality duty.

About the Diversity Team

5.2. The Diversity Team forms part of the SG's Employee Relations and Reward Team and is located with the Human Resources Division. The Team has lead responsibility for providing advice and guidance on the SG's employee policies on equal opportunities and diversity and also for implementing the SG's Diversity Strategy and wider Civil Service delivery strategies, including our current Diversity Delivery Plan.

5.3. The Team also undertakes outreach and awareness-raising activity, both internal and external, and supports the SG's six staff networks, including those for disabled staff, staff with caring responsibilities and those who work a flexible pattern.

Our existing policies and strategies

Equal opportunities and diversity policies

5.4. The Scottish Government's employee policy on equal opportunities is that all staff should be treated equally irrespective of any irrelevant difference, including their sex, marital status, age, race, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, religion or belief, working pattern, employment status, gender identity, caring responsibility, or trade union membership.

5.5. In addition, we are committed to increasing the diversity of staff within the organisation, particularly those of our three main under-represented groups: disabled staff, senior women and staff from a minority ethnic background. We will develop all of our staff, ignoring those irrelevant differences. Furthermore, we will value the different perspectives and skills of all staff and make full use of these in our work.

Diversity Strategy

5.6. The Scottish Government's five-year Diversity Strategy, "Positive about You", was launched in November 2000. It set out a range of action points, under the heading of five main drivers to progress diversity. These were: it is the right thing to do; Scottish Government policy; Civil Service reform; the law; and the business case.

5.7. Following a review to ensure that it remained fit for purpose, it was re-launched as "Positive about You - 2004 and Beyond", in December 2004. The revised Strategy placed a renewed focus on the mainstreaming of diversity across the organisation and aimed to consolidate the substantial progress that had been made so far.

5.8. This was supplemented by the SG's Departmental Diversity Delivery Plan, published in July 2006. Work on a future Civil Service diversity strategy is currently underway and a launch is planned for Summer 2007.

Departmental Diversity Delivery Plan

5.9. As part of the Cabinet Office initiative, "Delivering a Diverse Civil Service - a 10 Point Plan", the SG, in common with other Government Directorates and agencies published its Departmental Diversity Delivery Plan. The plan set out how we planned to change the culture of our organisation and reap the benefits that having a diverse organisation brings.

5.10. The plan's progress has been overseen by the SG's Diversity Forum: a group of key diversity policy leads from across the organisation and is chaired by its Diversity Champion. It has also been monitored by the Cabinet Office Diversity Champions' Network. Many of the actions have already been achieved, and the work of the plan is now drawing to a close. A final evaluation will take place later this year.

SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT PROGRESS - DIVERSITY TARGETS, APRIL 2008

* Figures to be treated as confidential to preserve anonymity (numbers less than 5).
** No target set
*** Most recent figures
**** Senior Civil Service Pay Band 2 and above (Top management posts).
***** Information currently unavailable from the e-HR system.

Gathering Information on disability equality and diversity policies

5.11. Under the disability equality duty we are required to have systems in place for gathering information in relation to the recruitment, retention and development of our disabled employees. We use a number of systems for gathering this information and details of these are set out below.

Recruitment

5.12. As part of our resourcing policy that includes our recruitment process, information on disability is obtained from staff at the time of application and entry to the SG and is recorded on HR database systems, as is information on ethnicity and gender. Details of disability and ethnicity are held confidentially and are available only to selected HR staff on a 'need to know' basis. Staff diversity information, including disability, is subsequently updated on a self-service basis by individuals themselves.

Retention

5.13. The Diversity Team, in conjunction with the SG's Management Information Team, undertakes the key reporting role on equal opportunities and diversity issues for the SG as an employer. We report to our People and Business Innovation Group on a wide range of staffing issues, including turnover, attendance and progress towards our targets for under-represented groups. In addition, the HR Management Information Team also provides an annual submission to Cabinet Office as part of the UK-wide collection of information on civil servants. Plans are also in hand to publish a range of diversity information on the SG's internet site on a six-monthly basis.

Development

5.14 We record information on staff progress through the organisation in our HR database and some of this is evidenced in the progress towards our diversity targets. Although each member of staff does complete a Personal Learning Plan as part of the Performance Management process, this information cannot easily be disaggregated by equality strand. A new additional learning management module for our electronic human resources system is currently in the process of being developed. This system will provide a platform for staff and managers to record their planned and actual learning activities and also any learning activity that has been refused or not undertaken. This will allow us to ensure that all staff are accessing and undertaking learning opportunities at the same rate,

5.15 We also gather information on a range of other HR policies and in a variety of ways, including:

• Dignity at Work

5.16. Our Dignity at Work policy aims to eliminate discrimination, bullying, harassment and victimisation. As part of our monitoring of the policy, we gather detailed information on an annual basis on every case recorded to enable us to identify and act on any incidents of discrimination or other unacceptable behaviour. If a complaint of discrimination, or any other form of unacceptable behaviour is raised, this is fully investigated by an independent pool of trained Investigating Officers, using the process set out in the policy. If it is decided that the complaint is well-founded, action will be taken under the SG's disciplinary procedures. Depending on the type of complaint, the penalty can be up to, and including, dismissal. Further training can also be recommended.

• Performance Management

5.17. Effective operation of the Performance Management system will make an important contribution to meeting our commitment to disability equality by ensuring all staff are valued for their individual contribution and their performance is assessed fairly regardless of irrelevant difference. All staff have a responsibility to ensure that their participation in the performance management process supports the SG's diversity agenda. We review all markings given under Performance Management System to ensure that the system is free from bias and undertake regular equal pay reviews to ensure that our pay system is transparent and non-discriminatory. From 2008, all staff will also have a mandatory personal diversity objective as part of their performance appraisal.

• Employee Consultation

5.18. We also consult disabled staff directly, through our disabled staff network and other communications, which we use where input is required, e.g. for the HR policy review process. Our annual employee survey also gathers a wide range of information from staff, including a range of equalities information.

Using information in meeting the disability equality duty

5.19. Under the disability equality duty we are required to make arrangements for using the information that we have gathered on staff recruitment, development and retention to help us review the effectiveness of the action that we are taking and inform future schemes. The details of how we aim to meet this requirement are set out below.

5.20. The information we gather is used on an ongoing basis as part of the monitoring and equality proofing of all of our HR policies. We aIso use the SG's Equality Impact Assessment process to identify issues of concern. If evidence of discrimination or unfair treatment is apparent from any of our monitoring procedures, we consider this further and put in place remedial action as required, e.g. by adapting existing policies or processes to eliminate such discrimination or undertaking awareness raising activity. Once any changes have been made, we would then seek feedback from staff and stakeholders once these have been put in place to ensure that they are effective. We review each of our policies and practices on a regular basis, seeking the views of equality groups, including the members of our staff Disability Network, as appropriate, and taking any action to address evidence of inequality.

5.21. Our Diversity Delivery Plan set out a range of action points across all equality strands and these have been reviewed every six months by the Diversity Forum. Each lead policy officer summarised recent action in each of their policy areas and future actions were agreed by the Forum members. The Plan is has also been reviewed at a Cabinet Office level by the Diversity Champions Network, which ensured that departmental action was supporting the wider Civil Service agenda and that progress continued to be made towards our targets. Progress towards our diversity targets is also monitored internally on a quarterly basis and we take steps, as appropriate, to address any issues arising from this information. As the work of the plan is now drawing to an end, a final evaluation will be undertaken later this year, in preparation for the launch of the new Civil Service Diversity Strategy.

5.22. We also take the following action to ensure the effective recruitment, retention and development of disabled staff:

• Recruitment

5.23. Disabled candidates are automatically invited to interview for a post if they meet the defined minimum criteria and reasonable adjustments are made to the recruitment process as required. A statement about this appears on our recruitment code on our web-site and the guaranteed interview symbol appears on press adverts. The guaranteed interview scheme also applies to internally advertised posts.. As part of its annual audit, the Office of Civil Service Commissioners ( OCSC) ensures proper arrangements for disabled staff are in place. All candidates' details are recorded on our recruitment database and reports are available on demand. If it is apparent from the monitoring of our recruitment processes that action is required to address any particular area, e.g. continued under-representation, we will consider if any additional action is required, such as further outreach work, alterations to our advertising or changes to our recruitment processes. We will also review past recruitment activity to ensure that future initiatives are appropriately targeted to support our aim of becoming an organisation that broadly represents the communities we serve. All recruitment and selection boards and processes must consist of at least one member of staff who has undergone the SG competency based selection interviewing training. This training includes training on interviewing disabled staff and the responsibility to ensure appropriate reasonable adjustments for disabled staff are put in place.

• Development

5.24. Where required, we make arrangements to ensure that disabled staff can access corporate courses offered to all staff. For example, we will ensure that visually impaired staff can access course materials online using assistive technology and can also receive 1-2-1 training covering essential business needs ( e.g.IT skills) as required. Staff can also arrange loans of lap tops and on line learning materials to allow then to learn in a place and time that suits them. Materials are also made available in large print and in dyslexia-friendly print colours, and we have the option to record audio books of training materials where required. Our dedicated training facilities on the SE estate are fully accessible to wheelchair users and disabled staff with mobility and other impairments. If particular groups are under-represented in relation to any of our development opportunities we will take steps to encourage applications from these particular groups and make adjustments to training methods and timetabling if possible. We will also work to ensure there is appropriate representation which reflects the wider SG population on particular training courses where this is possible.

• Retention

5.25. Although the current SG staff turnover rate is very small, we are committed to the retention of disabled staff. Our policies require that line managers should make reasonable adjustments to accommodate and retain disabled staff in their posts and the procedures that arise from those policies acknowledge this ( e.g. in cases of alleged misconduct, the disciplinary procedures require line managers and/or HR to establish the facts before deciding what action might be appropriate. If the reason for the alleged misconduct is related to an individual's disability, reasonable adjustments are considered instead of disciplinary action). The SG's HR Diversity Team and HR Professional Advisers Unit work closely to ensure that this is achieved through the provision of professional advice and through practical support. Information on the success of this strategy is obtained on a case by case basis as issues arise. We will also monitor more closely the reasons for staff leaving the organisation and use evidence from this to address any areas of inequality or unfair treatment in our policies and processes.

Involving our disabled staff

5.26. The SG is keen to work closely with all disabled staff to ensure that their needs are met and that we continue to make improvements within the workplace. We have undertaken a questionnaire exercise with all of our disabled staff, including members of our Disability Network, to agree with them their priorities for action in improving the working environment, in promoting positive attitudes and involving them in then decision-making process. There are a number of areas where these have already been taken forward:

The Work Environment

5.27. A number of our buildings have informal areas where staff can take a break from their immediate workspace. In addition, individual access to our first aid rooms can be made available if required for longer rest breaks. We have provided a wide range of equipment and adjustments for our disabled staff, including physical improvements, and hard and software. The adjustment process is now supported by our HR Professional Advisers, on an individual casework basis, giving a more personal and consistent approach. We also continue to work closely with our Information Technology and Procurement colleagues to try to ensure that any new systems are accessible and compatible with existing software. Our flexi-time system is available through our Intranet and so, for the first time, can now be used by many of our visually impaired staff. Where access is not possible, e.g. with our new access control system, adjustments have been made. We are also seeking to address existing diversity and disability training needs and a specialist training post for equality and diversity issues has now been created by Corporate Learning Services.

Promoting positive attitudes

5.28. All of our diversity information is now located on our Diversity Intranet pages, allowing easier and more effective access. The information is reviewed and added to on a regular basis and suggestions from staff are always welcome. The first in a series of managers' guides has also recently been published, to support managers in the daily task of managing diversity and we have recently supported the Department for Work and Pensions in an evaluation of its Access to Work initiative. The Team also has a hard copy library of a range of information on specific disabilities. We continue to hold regular meetings of our Disability Network, which comprises both disabled staff and others with an interest in disability issues, and are represented on, and share information with, the Civil Service Disability Network on a regular basis.

Involvement in HR decision making

5.29. We continue to use the Disability Network as a sounding board for our HR policies. Currently, we are continuing to involve disabled staff in our policy review exercise to ensure they are included right from the outset and their views taken on board. As a result of involvement of disabled staff we intend to take the following specific action:

Further action

5.30. Although many disabled staff indicated they were content with their current work situation (almost 70% of those responding to a recent questionnaire issued to all of the SG's disabled staff), others indicated that they would welcome a variety of changes.

5.31. We have already undertaken a number of the actions which have been identified by our staff:

• We have introduced a one-day diversity training course which is available to everyone, and which includes work on disability issues.
• We have introduced a personal diversity objective for all staff, which is mandatory from April 2007.
• We have involved many of our disabled staff in the ongoing HR policy review exercise, with the opportunity to participate in targeted workshops.
• We have held regular meetings with our trades unions to discuss diversity issues, including those related to disability and disabled staff.
• We have produced a diversity newsletter, including an accessible version available on our intranet site.
• We have provided equipment and other IT support as reasonable adjustments for an increasing number of staff ( 82 staff in the financial year 2007/08).
• We have invited an expert diversity stakeholder to participate in our Diversity Forum.

5.32. There are a number of other action areas that were raised by staff which we have not yet had the opportunity to tackle. However, we will progress these with our disabled staff as part of our commitment both to them and to the wider disability agenda and include them in our future action planning process. In particular:

• We will continue to work to change attitudes to disability, though a range of mechanisms, including learning opportunities, featured communications, re-iterating the support of our most senior staff and the provision of additional guidance to our managers.
• We will consider further changes to the physical environment where we are able to do so.
• We will develop our intranet disability pages to improve the advice and guidance we currently provide for our disabled staff on the specific issues raised by them.
• We will work to improve engagement with our disabled staff by promoting our existing Disability Network, looking again at different methods of communication and information gathering and developing case studies of successful disabled staff.

HR Action Plan

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