APPENDIX 4
Memorandum submitted by the Ministry of
Defence
RACE EQUALITY IN THE ARMED FORCES
INTRODUCTION
1. The 1996 Select Committee on the Armed
Forces Bill commented on the implementation of racial equality
policies within the Armed Forces. In welcoming an Action Plan
agreed between the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) and Ministry
of Defence, the Committee urged the Department to "implement
it with a determination not hitherto displayed".[2]
The Committee called upon the Ministry of Defence to implement
all of the Action Plan's provisions in time to make a full report
on progress to the 2000-01 Select Committee on the Armed Forces
Bill. This Memorandum now provides the Department's detailed account
of the steps taken to implement both the Action Plan and subsequent
Partnership Agreement. It reports on progress across the Armed
Forces, comments on the major areas of policy focus and implementation
and identifies where priorities remain. The Memorandum is supported
by a series of Annexes, summarising individual developments in
the Naval Service, Army and RAF (Annexes A-C). A separate Annex
(Annex D) details, for the Committee, the latest situation in
respect of the various measures which were agreed in the March
1996 Action Plan. Separate racial equality policies exist for
the MoD Civil Service which are consistent in both strategy and
policy to those in the Armed Forces.
GENERAL BACKGROUND
2. When the Select Committee's predecessor
took evidence from both the Ministry of Defence and the Commission
for Racial Equality, it had before it a report[3]
on the Commission's formal investigation into the Household Cavalry.
The CRE had reached the conclusion that racial discrimination
had occurred within the Household Cavalry and criticised the Department
for inadequate arrangements on ethnic monitoring. Only serious
and sustained efforts by all concerned would eradicate racial
abuse; all in all, their overall findings suggested that a non-discrimination
notice was appropriate. In the circumstances however, and following
positive discussions between the Commission and the Department,
Commissioners decided to accept MoD's wish to work in a spirit
of co-operation on racial equality programmes across the Armed
Forces generally. A decision on legal action was postponed for
a year.
3. This spirit of co-operation led to the
Permanent Secretary and Commission Chairman signing a joint Action
Plan on 28 March 1996. Many of the Action Plan measures reflected
the need for a review of practice and procedures within the Household
Cavalry but some had a tri-Service application. Chief amongst
these was the requirement for the Department to review ethnic
monitoring arrangements both in the area of recruitment and serving
personnel; such monitoring should enable detailed analyses of
ethnic origin information with quarterly reports submitted to
the Commission. Our work on ethnic monitoring is discussed in
detail at paragraphs 11-15 below.
4. Much of the first year's efforts on the
Action Plan necessarily concentrated on ensuring the various parameters
were addressed. Although the CRE recognised some signs of progress
when they reviewed progress in March 1997, Commissioners concluded
that more work needed to be undertaken to effect permanent attitudinal
change towards racial equality. As a consequence the Commission
decided that it would be appropriate to retain the threat of legal
action against the Department. However, following a further year's
work, which included a fundamental review of equality training
in the Armed Forces and the setting of goals for ethnic minority
recruitment, the Department and Commission agreed to enter into
a five year Partnership Agreement, subsuming within it the 1996
Action Plan.
5. The Partnership Agreement was signed
between the Chief of the Defence Staff and the CRE Chairman on
25 March 1998. A copy is attached at Annex E. It reflects a joint
commitment between the Department and CRE to achieve real progress
in going beyond the requirements of the Action Plan with the aim
of securing greater racial equality in the Naval Service, Army
and RAF. Importantly the Agreement contained recognition, from
the Commission, of progress to warrant the withdrawal of legal
action. In it the CRE acknowledged the leadership and commitment
being shown by the Chief of the Defence Staff and single Service
Chiefs of Staff to racial equality. It acknowledged also past
failure in Armed Forces (race equality) programmes, and provided
a commitment to achieving permanent change. A number of priority
areas were identified including the achievement of recruitment
goals, and the examination of barriers to ethnic minority recruitment,
promotion and retention.
POLICY DRIVERS
6. Since the last Select Committee considered
racial equality in the Armed Forces much has been done to convince
members of ethnic minority communities that the Services are employers
of first choice with the policies and leadership to remove prejudice,
tackle racism and deal effectively with anyone who breaches equal
opportunities policies. One of our main challenges remains recruitment
and the encouragement of enquiries and applications from black
and Asian people.
7. The Department recognises that the Armed
Forces must take a real lead nationally in promoting and demonstrating
racial equality and diversity. The Macpherson Report[4]
into the handling of the investigation of the murder of Stephen
Lawrence contained a number of recommendations that bear on all
public employers. It provided, along with the Partnership Agreement,
an unequivocal challenge for the Armed Forces to set a clear lead
for others in managing racial equality and diversity programmes.
The Chief of the Defence Staff, as a signatory of the CRE's Leadership
Challenge, in May 1998, said:
"I believe strong, visible leadership and
commitment from the Service Chiefs is paramount to the Government's
wish to remove any racism and to recruit more ethnic minority
personnel. I and the Service Chiefs take this issue extremely
seriously, and will continue to review progress on a regular basis
to ensure equality of opportunity for all personnel."
The Secretary of State for Defence made clear
the Government's commitment when, speaking at a major Armed Forces
Equal Opportunities Conference on 10 November 1998, he said,
"We do have a demanding visionto
create Armed Forces which truly reflect the diverse society we
live inand we can and will fulfil this vision."
Recognition of the Services' progress on promoting
race equality has been manifested by success in receiving a Gold
Award in 1998 for Raising Diversity Awareness and winning the
inaugural Windrush Champion award in 1999.
CORPORATE APPROACH
8. Leadership remains the key ingredient
of our effective policy development and application. Only through
the personal example and commitment of all commanders and line
managers will our people understand why racial equality (and equality
policies generally) is and must remain an issue for everyone.
To strengthen the clear top level direction we established a corporate
tri-Service framework for equality management in the Armed Forces,
with a clearly articulated goal and series of principles.
The Goal
"The Services Equal Opportunities goal is
to achieve universal acceptance and application of a working environment
free from harassment, intimidation and unlawful discrimination,
in which all have equal opportunity, consistent with our legal
obligations, to realise their full potential in contributing to
the maintenance and enhancement of operational effectiveness.
The Armed Forces value every individual's unique contribution,
irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, religion, gender or
social background."[5]
Corporate Principles
All personnel will be accountable
for implementation of Service and civilian (where mixed Service
and civilian working environments exist) equality and diversity
programmes.
All harassment and unlawful discrimination
will be challenged and action taken to address prejudice and negative
attitudes.
Complaints will be dealt with fairly
and expeditiously.
All equality policies will be monitored
and evaluated.
The composition of the Armed Forces
should better reflect the society they exist to defend.
The Goal (and principles) were announced in
Parliament in 1999[6]
and have been widely published across the Services. They are reflected
in the Armed Forces Overarching Personnel Strategy at Personnel
Strategy Guideline 15 and follow the principle of continuous improvement.
A review of the Strategy Guideline is currently underway with
a view to setting diversity in a military context and developing
a series of performance indicators against which policy implementation
can be measured.
VISION AND
LEADERSHIP
9. In order to fulfil the vision identified
by the Secretary of State we concluded that a strategy, which
took as its foundation the achievement of greater racial equality
and diversity in the Services, was required. Our vision remains
for ethnic minority communitiesand society generallyto
recognise the Services as an organisation that has learnt from
experience and successfully achieved greater racial equality,
with all personnel progressing fairly on merit. We want the Armed
Forces to be seen as an employer who has addressed with determination
racial inequality and acted decisively to remove any racial discrimination
or harassment. We concluded that such a vision needed to be built
around a corporate tri-Service framework.
THE PARTNERSHIP
AGREEMENT
10. Annex E[7]
sets out the parameters of the Partnership Agreement, including
terms. The main components of the Agreement are identified in
paragraph 13 and reflect the Department's general racial equality
objectives for the Armed Forces. Specifically they include affording
priority to achieving recruitment goals and objective examination
of barriers for attracting, promoting and retaining ethnic minority
personnel. Also reflected, in accord with our determination for
commanders to show effective leadership, is a commitment to include
assessment of equal opportunities performance as part of the annual
appraisal process. The main focus of the individual Services work
on racial equality programmes over the last four years is set
out in detail in Annexes A to C inclusive and follows the main
headings of the Agreement with the Commission.
Ethnic Monitoring
11. The early focus of tri-Service work
was on ethnic monitoring. Given the Commission's criticism and
our wish to have an accurate baseline against which to assess
progress we decided that this should be afforded a high priority.
Our ethnic monitoring requirements are based entirely on our wish
to ensure that there is no racial bias in the selection, promotion
and retention procedures involving personnel in the Armed Forces.
12. At the time of the 1996 Select Committee's
report ethnic monitoring of serving personnel, through a voluntary
postal survey, had produced a response rate of 67 per cent; no
ethnic monitoring procedures were in place in respect of recruitment.
Within three months of the Committee's report we introduced, by
using the 1991 Census categories, ethnic origin questions on the
Armed Forces Recruiting, Enquiry and Application forms. In addition
a management-led self-classification survey of all serving personnel
was initiated and completed by October 1996. This meant that,
for the first time, arrangements were in place to allow systematic
monitoring by ethnic origin across recruitment, promotion and
retention activities. The in-Service survey revealed that, as
at June 1997, ethnic minority representation across the Armed
Forces stood at 1 per cent.
13. Over the last three years we have continued
to refine and develop ethnic monitoring, partly as a result of
the quarterly reporting arrangement required by the Action Plan.
Service policy staffs engaged with recruitment and equality policy
implementation now employ the analysis to probe more deeply behind
particular issues, such as the unsatisfactory conversion rate
of ethnic minority enquirers in the Naval Service and to review
the performance of individual recruiting offices. The success
of the Armed Forces in achieving and maintaining a near 100 per
cent ethnic origin response rate has been commended by the Commission
and has led to interest from other employers.
14. As at 1 December 2000 ethnic monitoring
showed that 1.45 per cent of Armed Forces' personnel had declared
themselves as from ethnic minorities. This amounts to 2,985 personnel.
The details are:
|
Trained Numbers | Untrained Numbers
| Total Strength |
per cent |
White | 182,127
| 20,671 | 202,798
| 98.40 |
Non-White | 2,272
| 713 | 2,985
| 1.45 |
Black Caribbean | 533
| 90 | 623
| 0.30 |
Black African | 160
| 54 | 214
| 0.10 |
Black Other | 524
| 364 | 888
| 0.43 |
Indian | 188
| 43 | 231
| 0.11 |
Pakistani | 102
| 21 | 123
| 0.06 |
Bangladeshi | 19
| 4 | 23
| 0.01 |
Chinese | 62
| 15 | 77
| 0.04 |
Other Group | 684
| 122 | 806
| 0.39 |
Unspecified | 272
| 32 | 304
| 0.15 |
Totals | 184,671
| 21,416 | 206,087
| 100.00 |
Of the overall Service figure of 1.45 per cent each Service's
position is as follows:
Naval Service | 0.89%
|
Army | 1.83%
|
RAF | 1.14%
|
15. Work is in hand to introduce the 2001 Census ethnic
origin categories into all stages of the tri-Service recruitment
process. Current planning is predicated on the basis that analyses
of the 2001 Census categories should be used by Service recruiters
and personnel policy staffs from late autumn 2001.
ETHNIC MINORITY
RECRUITMENT
Recruitment Goals
16. The Armed Forces need to recruit the required numbers
of personnel, irrespective of their race, ethnic origin, religion
or gender and without reference to social background or sexual
orientation. In April 1997, ethnic minority personnel made up
1 per cent of the total strength of the Armed Forces. At the same
time the ethnic composition of the total UK population was thought
to be nearing 6 per cent. In a determined effort to increase the
ethnic representation of our Armed Forces we agreed a strategy
of setting recruiting goals to which we would aspire. Consequently,
on 22 January 1998, the then Minister(AF) announced in Parliament[8]
that ethnic minority recruiting goals were being introduced, starting
at 2 per cent for 1998-99 and rising annually by 1 per cent to
reach 5 per cent in 2001-02. There are two main reasons why the
Armed Forces wish to recruit many more suitably qualified ethnic
minority personnel:
so that the Services may better reflect in their
composition the society they are called upon to defend and from
which they gain their legitimacy and resources;
in order to tap into a rich source of talented
applicants which had previously been under-used.
The Challenge of Ethnic Minority Recruiting: The Strategy
17. Within the objectives set by Government, the three
Services are responsible for undertaking the recruitment of their
own personnel. In 1998, when ethnic minority recruiting goals
were introduced and the push to increase ethnic minority recruits
started, the generality of recruiting activity was carried out
using tried and tested strategies and methodologies which were
delivering general success. The elements of recruiting can be
broadly summed up as follows:
advertising in all forms to heighten awareness
of both young people, their parents and local community leaders;
generating a positive image of the Services and
careers in the Armed Forces;
engaging young people to come forward and see
what the Services have to offer and to experience something of
Service work and life by vigorous and persistent outreach programmes;
where necessary, nurturing candidates through
the stages of the recruitment process from initial enquiry to
selection/enlistment;
analysing achievement and building upon success.
18. However, it was plain from research commissioned
previously (and since confirmed by experience) that recruiting
ethnic minority young people posed difficult and different challenges
from those usually encountered and that, for an initial period
at least, it would be necessary to concentrate on these obstacles.
Chief among them were:
a lack of familiarity with the existence, roles
and career opportunities of the Armed Forces;
the view that a Service career was low status
employment;
fear of bullying and racial harassment;
lack of parental support or, at worst, parental
and community opposition;
population largely concentrated only in specific
locations (unlike the more even spread of the majority population),
therefore needing different types of targeting.
19. It was known from the outset that there would be
an absence of detailed demographic and in-depth marketing statistical
information; and it was realised that it take time to build up
to a point where campaign and marketing decisions could be made
with a high level of confidence in the outcome. Furthermore, no
robust monitoring system was in place to record achievement from
individual initiatives/events; nor was there a system to enable
unexpected deviations from recruiting norms to be identified and
action taken to remedy the cause. Taking all of these factors
into account, the recruiting strategy was to take a pragmatic
approach that enabled the obstacles to be clarified and tackled
(with a combination of outreach campaigning, refocused advertising,
etc) while experience and data were built up.
Change in Action
20. Advertising. Armed Forces advertising has
become threaded with the diversity message. All general campaigns
contain material designed to impact on ethnic minorities. In addition,
all three Services take maximum advantage of the opportunities
available in ethnic minority media, including advertising in minority
language papers. Access to major festivals, cultural events and
large minority public gatherings is used to heighten awareness
and to provide opportunities for all present to gain knowledge
both of the Armed Forces and to encounter people who are typical
of those who are already serving.
21. Generating a positive image. The introduction
by the Armed Forces of a policy of "zero tolerance",
with the associated equal opportunities training programmes and
confidential Helplines, is used repeatedly and determinedly to
counter and then reverse previous negative images of the Forces.
Each Service seeks to engage all its personnel in pursuit, not
only of recruitment, but also of the duty to promote racial diversity
and equality. Each Service relies heavily on the use of role models.
For example, the RAF has a carefully selected corps of some 200
ethnic minority personnel who volunteer to carry out this role.
All three Services provide access to their units and establishments
where potential recruits (or their parents) can meet and talk
to role models in situ. These encounters are designed to remove
preconceptions concerning prejudice, employment options and career
value.
22. Engagement. A wide range of activities is
undertaken in support of a vigorous, active and persistent outreach
campaign that is designed to encourage the interest of ethnic
minority young people, their parents and others with influence
over career intentions. The aim is, by giving a taste of Service
life, to stimulate applications to join. Each Service has developed
its own approach to outreach to suit its needs. The Army, for
example, has engaged a consultancy to facilitate its access to
ethnic minority young people and their leaders. This access is
then consolidated onto a more permanent footing by the formation
of local community partnerships that provide an ongoing presence.
The RN and RAF, with their very different footprints, have and
are expanding liaison teams to support campaigns in selected areas
of the country, looking to achieve maximum heightening of awareness
and encouragement of applications. In addition, the Naval Service
has developed the use of personal development courses (PDCs) to
stimulate applications while increasing the self confidence of
would be candidates and thus boosting their potential success
in the recruiting process. Each of these methods has a geographic
focus and this helps to counter the difficulties posed by the
geographically disparate locations of ethnic minority populations.
Outreach in itself does not necessarily result in immediate increases
in direct recruiting, being primarily concerned with sowing seeds
for the longer term by increasing access to, and knowledge of,
the Armed Forces. However, results from the Navy's PDCs, the Army's
most recent London campaign and the RAF's Leeds/Bradford initiative
last year indicate that outreach can also achieve immediate generation
of enquiries and applicants. Evaluation of these and similar initiatives
has demonstrated to us the critical importance of persisting with
recruiting and liaison activities once initial contact has been
made.
Monitoring, evaluating and learning from experience
23. Initially, the gathering of statistics was neither
robust nor thorough. For example, statistics for ethnic minority
recruiting in 1997-98 included non-UK citizens recruited from
the Commonwealth but it is not known how many. Although problems
remain with utilising legacy systems that were never designed
to record ethnic origin, a much more reliable and robust system
has been developed with the Defence Analytical Services Agency
to monitor the inflow of ethnic minority recruits from the UK
labour markets. The detailed statistical data being built up by
the Services is also providing the basis for analysing whether
there were or are any barriers within the recruitment process
itself. Being ethically proactive employers, the Armed Forces
need to be assured that their procedures, above all the psychometric
tests, are not in any way harder for ethnic minority applicants
than for any other group. Both the Naval Service and the Army
have found that the failure rate of their basic Other Ranks entry
test amongst ethnic minority candidates is disproportionately
greater than with candidates from the majority community. Both
the Army (in 1999) and the Navy (in 2000) commissioned the Defence
Evaluation and Research Agency, a national centre of excellence,
to investigate their tests, the British Army Recruit Battery (BARB)
and the Recruit Test (RT) respectively. While some items in the
tests were found to be unsound, the overall "adverse effect"
was assessed to be negligible. Nonetheless, a new BARB is to be
introduced in 2001 and items in the RT are likely to be rewritten.
The RAF's new Airmen's selection test, introduced in April 2000,
was subject to field trials in schools where there was a broad
gender and ethnic mix; the trials endorsed the psychometric fairness.
Research offered to the Navy suggested that institutional bias
in schools could sustain underachievement in ethnic minority pupils
and that such pupils may have limited test-taking experience.
All three Services now use members of their ethnic minority liaison
teams to mentor applicants through the test-taking process. Experience
with, and development of, the tests is also considered by a tri-Service
committee that facilitates the sharing of information, research
and best practice.
24. Another feature disproportionately common among ethnic
minority applicants is failure to attend pre-arranged interviews.
As both interviews and tests occur early in the recruitment process
this was of concern. Again, the Services have learnt to use members
of their ethnic minority liaison teams to nurture applicants through
the recruitment process and thereafter until entry into the Service.
Improvements in interview methods were introduced early on, following
advice from ethnic minority religious leaders but further research
into the recruitment process has been commissioned in order to
improve the "conversion rate" (ie enquiries-applicants-enlistments-entrants).
25. Until comparatively recently, there was not sufficient
statistical data derived from many ethnic minority recruiting
activities to act as a basis for decision making. This is changing.
The Naval Service work on conversion rates noted above and the
further research to be undertaken is based on statistical evidence
gathered by the recruiting organisations' monitoring. The annual
recruiting plans of the Services and their underlying strategies
are evidence based and increasingly reliant on robust evaluation
of experience since 1998ie what worked and what did not.
Cost of EM Recruitment
26. It is difficult to identify separately that element
of the recruitment budget (>£100 million) which is specifically
attributable to ethnic minority recruitment. Currently, it is
thought that between 10 per cent and 15 per cent of single Service
marketing budgets may be attributable to the ethnic minority recruiting
campaign but this figure is misleading by itself since it cannot
sensibly be taken in isolation from the activities promoted by
the remaining to 85 to 90 per cent of the budgets
Overall Achievement
27. The tri-Service ethnic minority annual recruiting
achievement thus far, with the year relevant shown in brackets
is:
1997-98 | 1.3%
| (pre-goals) |
1998-99 | 1.8%
| (2%) |
1999-2000 | 1.9%
| (3%) |
2000-01 | 2.2% at mid-year point
| (4%) |
Further details of ethnic minority recruiting achievement
for each Service since the introduction of goals, broken down
by officers and other ranks, can be found in Annexes A-C. The
figures show that although the goals have not been attained, there
has been a year-on-year increase of ethnic minority recruits,
both in terms of numbers recruited and the percentage total intake,
since monitoring began. Significantly, although the figures are
too small to have trend setting significance, the intake of ethnic
officers to the Naval Service and the RAF in 1999-2000 all but
doubled the achievement of the previous year.
MoD Centre Role: Propagation of Best Practice
28. While the single Services are responsible for undertaking
their own recruitment, the centre of the Department sets corporate
strategy. In the case of ethnic minority recruiting this includes:
liaison with the CRE on policy;
facilitating the spread of best practice not only
between the three Services (and Reserves) themselves but also
from other, non-Service sources eg Prince's Trust;
commissioning research into, for example, best
practice assessment, selection testing, and future social and
demographic trends;
prompting and sharing the evaluation of outcomes;
ensuring early shared visibility of ethnic minority
recruiting action plans to enable activities to be de-conflicted;
high-level focus on improving the effectiveness
of the recruiting process e.g. conversion rates;
The Defence Recruiting Committee established a
working group in 1999 to focus specifically on identifying and
spreading best practice in ethnic minority recruiting.
Retention of EMs
29. The current ethnic minority proportion of the Armed
Forces is 1.45. As far as retention is concerned, this small baseline
makes trend spotting difficult if not statistically impractical,
and the best active approach adopted to date is to monitor the
figures to ensure outflow is no greater than that of the majority.
Monitoring has failed to show any evidence that the retention
of ethnic minorities is less than for other groups. However, as
numbers build, trends should become more discernible. Retention
will become a matter of importance as Public Service Agreements
drive the focus into examination of promotions trends etc.
Future Tri-Service Strategy
30. The strategy for ethnic minority recruiting has evolved
pragmatically in the light of experience gained over the past
two years. In order to review progress, the Department is conducting
a policy evaluation, consulting interested parties like the CRE.
An examination will also be made into whether the recruiting activities
of the Reserve Forces and Cadet Forces have transferable lessons
for the Regular Forces. Recruiting efforts are now likely to focus
more on areas of large ethnic minority populations. Although a
high level of outreach activities will need to be maintained for
the foreseeable future, the current trend is to place an increasing
emphasis on the directly attributable recruitment outcomes that
they can show. The growth in numbers of ethnic minority recruits
has been slow so far but the Services point to the perceptible
year-on-year increase they have achieved. With the benefit of
more meaningful data and the hard won knowledge gained over the
past two years, together with a more experienced and better trained
field force, we expect to maintain current gains and to increase
the momentum. As part of this, we would expect any extra costs
to reduce and conversion rates to begin to equate more closely
to those found among the population in general.
EDUCATION AND
AWARENESS
Tri-Service Equality Training
31. Effecting permanent attitudinal change towards our
racial equality goal is a cultural issue. Indeed, from the early
days of the Action Plan CDS and the Chiefs of Staff made clear
that tackling racial prejudice was an issue for all. Top level
commitment is now firmly established and continues to emphasise
the importance of raising awareness of Service equality policies
through comprehensive training across the Command chain.
32. In November 1996 the then Financial Planning and
Management Group (Service Personnel) (FPMG(SP)) concluded, in
its consideration of work to implement the Action Plan, that equal
opportunities training in all three Services should be reviewed
and that the establishment of a Tri-Service Equal Opportunities
Training Centre be explored. The subsequent Training Needs Analysis
by the Services supported the creation of a centre to deliver
training to unit Equal Opportunities Advisers, Equal Opportunities
Trainers and policy staff, and to run a senior officer seminar
for 1* officers and above.
33. Work began in 1997 to look at this in more detail.
A great deal of research was undertaken; the training methods,
course syllabi and teaching techniques of a number of UK organisations
including the Police (Greater Manchester, Kent, Hampshire and
Police Training Colleges), Judicial Studies Board, British Telecom
and Littlewoods) were reviewed to look at tried and tested examples
of best practice and benchmarking. Account was taken also of the
American approach at the Defence Equal Opportunities Management
Institute in Florida and that of the Canadian military.
Training for Equal Opportunities Advisers (EOA)
34. Armed Forces policy requires every unit, ship, station,
headquarters, or formation to have a trained Adviser in equality
on their strength. In February 1998 the Training Centre, at RMCS
Shrivenham, headed by a Lieutenant Colonel and complemented with
officers and non commissioned officers from all three Services,
began pilot courses for Service Equal Opportunities Advisers,
and their civilian counterparts in Service units and establishments.
We decided to begin training for EOAs because all perform a vital
function within the chain of command in providing local expertise
to military commanders on Armed Forces racial and gender equality
policies. Course definition and structure was completed by March
1998 and designed to cover:
the links between attitudes and behaviour in relation
to equal opportunities;
the principles of diversity management;
the relationship between equal opportunities legislation
and codes of practice;
how to advise on racial (and sexual) harassment
complaints;
how to advise on equal opportunities training.
Training for Senior Officers
35. The FPMG(SP) agreed, in March 1998, that all Service
officers of one star rank and above were to receive a mandatory
course of training in equal opportunities at the tri-Service Centre.
The same facility was made available to Senior Civil Service personnel
in the Department. The course was designed to enable senior officers
to:
explain the role of leadership and personal example
in developing a culture which encourages fair treatment;
set out the case for equal opportunities, including
diversity management, in terms of operational effectiveness and
performance;
understand the procedures for dealing with Service
and civilian harassment complaints and to ensure that they are
enforced;
propose personal actions to further an understanding
of equality policies in their command chain.
A contract for the delivery of senior officer training was
let in 1998. The Chief of the Defence Staff and Permanent Secretary
attended the first course in September 1998.
36. As at 31 December 2000 the Centre had trained 2,773
personnel from all three Services and the MoD Civil Service. This
represents the delivery of 98 per cent of the originally forecast
training requirement. External recognition of the quality of training
provided has been gained by the accreditation, in May 2000, of
the Equal Opportunities Adviser course by the Chartered Institute
of Personnel and Development (CIPD) as equivalent to the Equality
Management elective for membership. This is only the second time
that CIPD has recognised a stand-alone elective as meeting their
stringent requirements and provides a useful benchmark against
civilian practice.
37. Interest in the Shrivenham Training Centre has been
considerable. Both the CRE and Equal Opportunities Commission
have observed training in progress; media interest has also been
significant with BBC West producing a documentary on its work.
A visiting Hungarian MoD delegation also asked to observe training.
Having hosted a visit by members of the Islamic Foundation the
Centre's staff paid a return visit to see the work of the Foundation.
This represented just one of a number of visits undertaken by
Training Centre personnel to ensure that their own knowledge of
all aspects of religious and minority ethnic cultures was comprehensive
and relevant.
Evaluation of Senior Officer and EOA Courses
38. In keeping with normal best practice personnel attending
both the senior officers and EOA courses have provided feedback
on both the quality and utility of the training received. Comments
received through course critiques have resulted in minor developmental
adjustments to the training but have predominantly shown a high
level of satisfaction. Comments received continue to confirm the
view that the training is both appropriate and effective:
"found it valuable, interesting andto
my surprise, I must sayfun. You got the day exactly righta
lot of thought provoking ideas and views and a refreshingly new
look at an old problem, without lecturing or talking down."
"In my sordid past; I have been the bully,
been bullied; harassed soldiers and been harassed; I have upheld
the law whilst breaking it myself and most strikingly; I have
been ignorant through a placid attitude. We all need to know what
is going on and I believe this is why I needed this course. By
coming on this week, I have realised where I came from, what I
did wrong and can now make a difference."
"Best non-operational course I have ever
attended in the military."
A formal two-tier evaluation process is being undertaken
to evaluate both the reaction of individuals to the training and
its long-term impact across the MoD. A generic measurement tool
has been developed which is enabling measurement of individuals'
reactions to the training against five scales:
Behavioural response. Has the behaviour
of an individual changed as a result of attending the training?
Trainee confidence. Has the individual
felt more confident in tackling EO related issues as a result
of attending the training?
Issues in respect of personal and professional
development. Has the individual felt that the training has
helped in both their career and personal development?
Suitability of the training environment.
Was the manner in which the training was delivered both effective
and appropriate?
Instructor credibility. Did the instructor
put the subject across in a credible and effective way?
The responses are all self-reported and have been generated
by a survey of 1,500 personnel who attended training between September
1998 and June 2000. An overall response rate of 70 per cent was
achieved despite the inevitable difficulties of tracking down
personnel who have relocated since attending the training. One
element of the evaluation is designed to confirm that the training
delivered is equally appropriate to all ranks across the Services
by seeking to identify if there are any statistically significant
differences by either rank or service.
39. Separate long-term evaluation work is also underway
to quantify the impact of a specific training intervention or
policy change. This will allow the impact of changes to policy
or training to be predicted in a way that will permit specific
resources to be effectively targeted in response to specific needs.
This will take until 2003 to complete.
Future Tri-Service Training Centre Courses
40. Consideration is now being given to the development
of future courses at Shrivenham. The need for continuation training
for personnel who have previously attended both the EOA and senior
officer seminar is also being considered. This will take into
account the impending changes in the Race Relations (Amendment)
Actand in particular the positive duty on the public sector
to promote race equality. We are arranging a number of tri-Service
(and civilian) seminars in 2001 to update EOAs/EOOs on general
policy issues and to hear from them on attitudes towards equality
issues in the command chain.
Individual Service Equality Training
41. All three Services undertook a further review of
their equal opportunities training programmes in 1999 following
direction from the Chief of the Defence Staff. Below senior officer
level training currently being given is:
All Commanding Officers now receive some EO
training, although the length and input varies. A number of Naval
Captains, Army Colonels and RAF Group Captains in key appointments
also attend the 1* course at Shrivenham. For other officers in
command EO training is delivered, in presentational format, as
part of the CO's Designate Course (Army) or attendance on a Service
specific EO Awareness Workshop or comparable Defence Management
Training (DMT) course. In the Naval Service EO training for Commanding
Officers is a module that is part of the CO's Desig Course (Navy)
at the Royal Naval School of Leadership and Management (RNSLAM).
Officers below the rank of Captain RN or equivalent
receive EO training at various stages throughout their careers
most notably during initial training and when attending junior/initial
staff training. Additionally, all unit Executive Officers in the
Royal Navy receive the full five Day EOA Course at TSEOTC as part
of their pre-joining training. In the RAF, an EO module is now
included in the Initial Officer Training Course and all subsequent
formal command and staff training courses.
EO training for Warrant Officers is not universal.
In the Naval Service an EO module is included in the WO's Staff
Course. However, although some Arms and Services in the Army run
their own WO courses that contain an EO module there is no central
Army Warrant Officers' Course. Within the RAF the absence of formal
training for WOs is compensated, in part, by the availability
of RAF EO Awareness Workshops and EO training provided by DMT.
(d) Senior Non-Commissioned Officers
Across all three Services EO training is a
feature of a number of mandatory courses necessary for promotion
and confirmation in rank.
42. The overall coverage of individual Naval Service,
Army and RAF EO training points strongly to the fact that the
message should be getting through and that all personnel should
be aware of the importance that is placed on adherence to EO policy
and practice. The advantage of having EO training embedded in
existing professional courses is to underline the point that equality
issues are an integral and essential part of good management practice.
43. We have no empirical evidence that there is any one
group in the command chain who need special attention. We can
assess the quantity of training and, to a degree its quality,
by testing a student's ability to meet agreed Performance Objectives.
Knowledge of a subject is only an element of the overall success
of that training. There is, however, no single source of reliable
and objective information for the measurement of "attitudinal
change". Course wash-ups, questionnaires and other post course
analysis, while providing useful feedback, do little to verify
attitudinal change, either in the short or long term. Arguably
the most demanding task is to conduct some form of empirical,
quantitative evaluation of the effectiveness of EO training and
increasing diversity, especially at a time when all personnel
need to understand why this makes good sense for the Services.
Currently we have no baseline against which to measure change
and one source alone would not be sufficient. Nonetheless evidence
from Continuous Attitude Surveys, analysis of formal complaints,
calls to Service Helplines and any other Service-wide surveys.
This whole area is now being addressed as part of our review of
Personnel Strategy Guideline 15 of the Armed Forces Overarching
Personnel Strategy.
44. We are looking also at what more can be undertaken
to monitor delivery of Service equality and diversity policies
through Unit Equal Opportunity Advisers (EOAs). The Army already
requires their EOAs to initiate a return, through the chain of
command, which seeks to broadly monitor unit equal opportunity
policy, including significant problems and examples of positive
actions. The RAF also require their EOAs to submit a regular report.
RACIAL HARASSMENT
AND DISCRIMINATION
45. Confidential Helplines have been introduced across
the Armed Forces since 1 December 1997, and are available, amongst
other things, to advise personnel who may have been subject to
racial abuse. All three Services have sought to encourage personnel
who believe they have been subject to racial harassment or discrimination
to use the complaints procedure. Our aim throughout has been to
give personnel confidence that any complaint will be taken seriously
in an environment in which racist or sexist behaviour is not tolerated.
The Armed Forces Act 1996 amended the provision of the Service
Discipline Acts that govern the internal redress of complaint
procedures. The new procedures came into effect on 1 October 1997
and allowed Service personnel access to Employment Tribunals for
complaints of racial discrimination. The procedures allow for
personnel to take their case to a Tribunal if they have failed
to gain satisfactory redress under the internal procedures. Since
introduction 43 personnel have taken such complaints to an Employment
Tribunal.
46. We believe that it is good management practice to
have in place an internal system for the resolution of complaints
on terms and conditions of service. We feel it is particularly
important in the Services where personnel work in close-knit teams
and operational effectiveness is vital, that every effort is made
to ensure that there is a system for reporting problems immediately.
Unlike civilians, a great many Service personnel cannot go home
at the end of the day. A civilian employer is only liable for
acts of discrimination or harassment in the workplace. In the
Services personnel are often available for duty seven days a week;
even leisure activities can take place in the workplace. Incidents
of racial (and sexual) harassment that take place "out of
working hours" are still the responsibility of the MoD; thus
our vicarious liability is much wider than that of civilian employers.
We have invested considerably since 1996 in providing guidance
on how to complain if a serviceman believes they have been subject
to racial harassment or discrimination; only through personnel
coming forwardand having the confidence to do socan
we hope to root out racial prejudice and discriminatory treatment.
47. Investigating complaintsnot just in these
matterstakes time. At a meeting with the CRE Chairman on
13 November 2000 the Secretary of State acknowledged that some
cases do involve lengthy delays, partly because of the difficulties
associated with contacting witnesses who may have subsequently
left the Armed Forces. Arrangements were introduced, in 2000,
to delegate greater decision making on internal redress cases
generally but we are reviewing this further in order to see whether
any additional streamlining might be possible in order to facilitate
speedier resolution of complaints.
Accountability for Discrimination and Racist Behaviour
48. Individual Service equal opportunity directives,
which are updated annually, stress the responsibility of all personnel
to demand zero tolerance towards racism. Work is now well in hand
to introduce, with effect from autumn 2001, a more focused assessment
of equal opportunities performance in a new tri-Service officers'
appraisal reporting system. It includes assessment of the Subject
Officer's EO credentials in two of the ten "graded"
Performance Attributes and contains specific guidance for Reporting
Officers, who are advised not to make any comment themselves which
run contrary to the Services' Equal Opportunities Policies, and
directs them to comment in the narrative if the Subject Officer's
performance in this respect is "anything other than of the
highest order".
PROMOTING RACE
EQUALITY
Equal Opportunities Conferences
49. Two successful equal opportunities conferences have
been held in 1998 and 1999. The 1998 Conference, which took as
its theme "Learning from Experience" concentrating exclusively
on the Armed Forces, took place at the Royal Society of Arts on
10 November 1998. Hosted by Lord Robertson, the Conference was
attended by 200 delegates, including members of both Houses as
well as academics, members of the Equality Commissions and representatives
from minority communities. In addressing the Conference the Chief
of the Defence Staff said that "I have placed a high priority
on removing racism from the Services." And "we mean
what we say about not wanting racists". US Secretary of State
Colin Powell, speaking as the former Chairman of the US Joint
Chiefs of Staff, provided the keynote speech. He commended the
Armed Forces for the leadership being shown in tackling racism
and promoting greater ethnic diversity across the Services. General
Powell warned of the need for long-term sustainability of military
racial equality programmes, stressing the importance of leadership
in ensuring that the commitment to change was understood by all
personnel.
50. Several issues emerged from the 1998 Conference which
have continued to influence policy implementation and development.
All three Service Chiefs continue to exercise strong leadership
in seeking to break down barriers towards military careers amongst
the black, Asian and other non-white communities. The CDS and
all three Service Chiefs are signatories of the CRE Leadership
Challenge; as recently as 22 November 2000, the First Sea Lord
took part in the launch of the Challenge's next stage. The Conference
also highlighted the need for potential applicants from minority
communities to be provided with a clearer appreciation of arrangements
to practise particular faiths within the Services. As a result
we produced a "Religious and Cultural Guidance" leaflet.
We have been working with the Religious Advisers to the Armed
Forces who represent the major non-Christian faiths to provide
Chaplaincy support for their members by establishing a network
of "officiating chaplains" from those faiths.
51. In December 1999 we held a further Conference at
the International Convention Centre in Birmingham. Involving also
the MoD Civil Service the Conference provided for an engagement
with community leaders and, importantly, schoolchildren. The Secretary
of State for Defence issued the following direct challenge to
the ethnic minority communities, "I want to set young women
and people from ethnic communities a challenge. Just as I have
challenged my organisation, just as my predecessor did, I challenge
you to. I challenge you to go away from here today and tell your
families, friends and colleagues at work that we mean business.
That we have first class jobs in a first class working environment
in an organisation that is totally committed to valuing cultural
and individual diversity."
Joint Initiative with the CRE
52. At a discussion between the Service PPOs and CRE
Commissioners on 30 October 2000, the Commission proposed a possible
joint CRE/MoD "outreach" event, targeted at gatekeepers
and parents as a means of encouraging communities to reconsider
preconceptions about military careers. We believe this has considerable
attractions and might also involve the Equal Opportunities Commission,
as well as Race Equality Councils. Proposals are currently awaited
from the Commission on how this might be structured and arranged.
Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000
53. This legislation enacts a statutory requirement on
the public sector to "promote race equality". The Department
will be required to have due regard to the need to eliminate unlawful
discrimination and promote good race relations. There is already
much active promotion of race equality but work is already in
hand, as the Secretary of State informed the CRE Chairman on 13
November 2000, to look at all Defence functions in order to critically
assess where we might need to satisfy ourselves on the statutory
duty. For the Armed Forces the Partnership Agreement will continue
to provide the cornerstone of racial equality programmes but we
shall be seeking to promote actively our commitment to the positive
duty.
54. An early example of this is in the Ethnic Minorities
Contribution to Defence Exhibition which the Minister for the
Armed Forces launched on 28 November 2000. This exhibition seeks
to correct any misconception that today's ethnic minorities in
Britain have few historic links with the Armed Forces. By taking
the exhibition to the general public both in London and nationally
in places such as Manchester and Bradford, we hope that it will
increase awareness of the contribution made by military and civilian
personnel from Africa, the Indian sub-Continent, the rest of Asia
(including Hong Kong) and the West Indies to our defence interests
over many years. The exhibition is a further example of our determination
to remove barriers and to make people from the minority ethnic
communities more aware of the many opportunities that the Armed
Forces provide. A separate photographic exhibition of "Black
and Asian soldiers contribution to the British Army" is also
currently touring Britain; at the exhibition in Cardiff in October
2000 two days were set aside to allow student from local areas
to talk to serving soldiers and officers on their experiences
within the Army.
SUMMARY AND
CONCLUSIONS
55. Since the 1996 Armed Forces Bill Select Committee
considered race equality in the Armed Forces the Department has
done much to develop equal opportunities and diversity within
the Naval Service, Army and RAF, and to reflect better the ethnic
diversity of our society. As the individual reports testify, a
significant range of initiatives and activities are now in place
both within the Services and within communities with a view to
ensuring that black and Asian representation is increased, and
that racial harassment and discrimination is dealt with robustly
and removed. But, as we have always said (and the Commission have
recognised this), convincing more people from the ethnic minorities
to join and remain in the Armed Forces is a long-term process
requiring sustained, unambiguous leadership from senior military
commanders both within their Services and nationally as well as
locally in communities. Much of the outreach recruitment activity,
set out at paragraphs 20-25, involve confidence building requiring
carefully applied and persistent efforts to attract, identify,
convince, process, select and then retain a candidate. It inevitably
takes time to win the trust, not only of the potential ethnic
minority entrant, but also parents and influential community leaders,
including religious leaders.
56. The Armed Forces and Ministry of Defence response
to the Partnership Agreement/Action Plan and to the general area
of racial equality has been that of an organisation willing to
learn from experience and to engage, as the Secretary of State
has said, in a challenge with the ethnic minority communities.
These communities, together with the media, need to recogniseas
the CRE Chair has donethat "there has been considerable
enthusiasm, energy and effort by the three Services to change
the public's perception, particularly the minority communities
perception . . . that these are organisations well worth being
employed in."[9]that
policies and process are now in place and that these are leading
to welcome increases in ethnic minority personnel.
57. Such work now needs to be consolidated further. The
numbers of ethnic minority personnel joining the Armed Forces
have increased from 1997-98 but remain disappointingly below our
recruitment goals. We will, therefore, be looking critically,
over the next few months, at whether the policies now in place
are delivering the outcomes we require. Of particular importance
will be:
continued development of the systematic evaluation
of recruitment activity, with a view to a greater sharing of best
practice both within the individual Services and with other uniformed
organisations in the public sector;
further positive action work within local communities,
using the Community Partnership model and Personal Development
Courses;
ensuring that no barriers remain in the general
recruiting process, including in Careers Offices and within the
entry tests, which are preventing ethnic minorities entering the
Services, including being provided with advice on other Services
if their initial preference is unavailable;
using analysis on recruitment, promotion and retention
to measure the outcome of racial equality policies, to adjust
policies where appropriate and to communicate the outcome both
internally and externally;
evaluating the race awareness and general equality
training programmes;
expediting the investigation of complaints;
engagement in local communities with the Commission
for Racial Equality.
CONCLUSION
58. The Ministry of Defence welcomes the opportunity
to submit this Memorandum to the 2001 Armed Forces Bill Select
Committee. The Memorandum reflects the determination, energy and
commitment shown by the Armed Forces since the Committee's predecessors
last considered this issue in 1996. Through the Partnership Agreement
with the Commission for Racial Equality and the Armed Forces Overarching
Personnel Strategy the foundations are now in place to secure
greater ethnic minority representation across the Naval Service,
Army and RAF and to meet the new responsibilities on promoting
race equality which will result from the Race Relations (Amendment)
Act.
January 2001
2
1996 Armed Forces Bill Select Committee Report. Back
3
Ministry of Defence (Household Cavalry)-Report of a Formal Investigation
dated 26 March 1996. Back
4
The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry-Report dated 15 February 1999. Back
5
The Corporate EO Goal was amended in Jan 2000 to include sexual
orientation in order to take account of the decision to allow
homosexuals to serve in the Armed Forces announced to Parliament
on 12 January 2000. Back
6
Official Export 22 March 1999 Column WA10. Back
7
p. 227. Back
8
Official Report 22 January 1998 Columns 627 and 628. Back
9
CRE Evidence Before HCDC-25 October 2000. See HC 29-II (2000-01),
pp89-113. Back
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