Reply to questionnaire by the Department
for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE GENDER EQUALITY DUTY
Thank you for your letter of 27 July to Hilary
Benn enclosing a questionnaire regarding implementation of the
gender equality duty. I am replying as the Minister responsible
for this issue.
1. Defra has produced a draft Gender Equality
Scheme, as part of a broader Joint Equality Scheme which includes
Race and Disability.
The draft revised scheme which incorporates
the work underway to address the public sector duties in relation
to gender equality legislation has been published on the Defra
website as part of a consultation process which ended on 24 July
2007.
Following lessons learned from the Race and
Disability schemes, and feedback from the consultation it is now
our intention to produce a separate Gender Equality Scheme. This
will ensure that the distinct elements that relate to gender equality
are easily identifiable. The revised scheme will be published
in December 2007.
Defra conducts three yearly Equal Pay reviews.
The latest review, conducted in 2006 found no systematic inequality
relating to gender issues. Pay is adjusted to ensure that women
are not disadvantaged following a period of maternity leave or
a career break taken in relation to caring responsibilities. In
addition we conduct regular staff surveys. Responses are disaggregated
by gender, including Transgender, providing insight into the differences
in the employee experience for men, women and people in the Transgender
community.
Women are well represented in the Defra workforce,
making up about half of all appointments. Representation levels
are lower in the most senior grades and Defra has set targets
for improving as part of the Civil Service 10 point Plan. Representation
levels have improved up to and including Grade 7 level, but ongoing
structural changes in the organisation have had a detrimental
effect on the numbers of women in the Senior Civil Service. Changes
within some of Defra's delivery Bodies, which are predominantly
male at the highest levels, could lead to significant changes
in the Department's apparent progress towards achieving the targets
set for women.
Defra currently runs a positive action Elevator
Partnership Mentoring Scheme (EPS) for women. This is a centrally
funded scheme designed exclusively to develop women at grades
6 and 7 and is orientated almost exclusively towards meeting the
needs of the Cabinet Office 10 point plan and securing an increase
in representation at feeder grades.
Additionally Defra has rejoined Opportunity
Now as part of our commitment to promote gender equality and we
are making a submission for this years listing in The Times
newspaper Top 50 Places where Women want to Work.
2. Defra has introduced an Equality Impact
Assessment tool (EIA). The EIA is a systematic way of finding
out whether a policy, process or service affects groups of people
equally, or whether it potentially may have a differential impact
on one or more particular group, including men and women. This
applies equally to policies involving customers, employees or
other stakeholders. Impact assessments must be undertaken in relation
to gender in order to meet legislative requirements.
Responsibility for completion of an EIA rests
with business managers; they have to do this as they are best
placed to know the business implications of their policies and
have the expert knowledge to successfully complete them. The key
to a successful EIA is implementing it at the core development
stage of any strategic policy, this way impacts can be identified
early and methods put in place to remove barriers. This is especially
critical in the area of re-location, and redeployment.
Training has been carried out to provide staff
involved in managing relocating Units across the Business with
advice and guidance on how to complete an EIA. Additional workshops
have been held for HR Business Partners and there will be a programme
of Equality Impact Assessment training for policy makers commencing
from September.
Defra will put in place a systematic process
for conducting retrospective Equality Impact Assessments on its
functions and policies which have a relevance to gender equality.
3. Defra's Central Procurement Group (PCD)
is as part of the CIPS Accreditation programme reviewing procurement
policies, procedure and standards to ensure non-discrimination
on the grounds of gender, ethnic origin, religion, age, disability
in its contracting and have updated their PQQ and ITT to include
equality issues.
4. In that we are adopting Equality Impact
Assessments for all diversity strands and monitor a wide range
of employee policies by gender the approach for implementing the
gender equality duty has been broadly similar to that for implementing
the race equality duty. However, Defra will be ensuring that in
the review of the Gender Equality Scheme we will be focusing on
outcomes for staff and the communities that we serve. This approach
will be driven through the procurement chain to ensure that the
requirements of the Gender Equality Duty are reflected in the
provision of goods and services.
Jeff Rooker
| 
