Reply to questionnaire by the Foreign
and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
IMPLEMENTATION OF
THE PUBLIC
SECTOR GENDER
EQUALITY DUTY
1. What practical measures have you taken
to implement the duty in relation to the employees of your Department?
Have you undertaken an equal pay audit, or another survey, to
detect any barriers to the full participation of women in your
workforce? What have you done to address under-representation
of women in specific grades or types of post?
The practical measures we have taken to implement
the FCO's Gender Equality Scheme (GES) include:
— The appointment of new FCO Board
Diversity Champions for Gender and Flexible Working.
— The appointment of an Equality &
Diversity Director from the private sector, at senior management
level, to drive forward the diversity strategy and help embed
equality and diversity, including gender diversity, into the culture
and behaviour of the organisation.
The introduction of a diversity scorecard
to help Directors set personal diversity objectives and measure
performance against four specific criteria (committed, confident,
creative and communicating).
— The launch of a new Women's Network
for the Senior Management Structure (SMS) (SCS equivalent).
— Enabling line managers of women sitting
the SMS Assessment and Development Centres (ADCs) for promotion
to the SMS, to observe ADCs and thus be in a better position to
help women officers prepare for the ADC.
— Encouraging and facilitating greater
inward and outward movement of staff, including women, from and
to other Government Departments, public and private sector organisations
to offer more opportunities for career progression and wider professional
experience.
— The introduction of new technology
to facilitate remote/home working, helping staff work more flexibly.
— Identifying jobs at senior management
level, in UK missions overseas, which could be shared or done
flexibly, including part-time.
— A review of all existing part-time
positions at senior management level in the FCO in London to see
how these might be improved, done differently and/or extended.
— A guarantee that all applications
from partners seeking joint postings in overseas missions will
be considered alongside single applications.
— Piloting new initiatives to help
partners with dual careers, including joining "Partnerjob".
— The appointment of a senior staff
member to work exclusively on expanding and promoting flexible
working at all levels in the FCO to help retain the skills and
talent of all staff, including those on paid and unpaid leave
outside the FCO, and to support staff working flexibly and their
managers.
— All FCO hiring managers are being
asked to consider how all jobs might be done flexibly including
job-sharing, part-time and remote working.
— An Equal Pay Audit of FCO Pay and
Benefits policies in relation to diversity and gender bias, the
results of which are expected by the end of 2007.
— The introduction of a new diversity
training course (Making the Most of Difference) for all staff
at home and overseas, challenging behaviours and practices which
undermine equality.
— The introduction, in 2008, of a revised
e-learning diversity package, including modules on gender and
atypical working patterns.
— Offering the Springboard development
programme for women to all female staff in the FCO.
— Increased mentoring by senior staff
to include underrepresented groups, including women.
— Diversity training undertaken by
all FCO Board members.
— Identification of senior women role
models.
2. Have you reviewed the policies and administrative
procedures of your Department for gender bias? What action have
you taken to correct any such bias?
We are introducing a light-touch equality impact
screening tool for all proposed major policy and procedural changes.
We are also identifying policies (both employment and foreign
policy) for equality impact assessment, taking forward case study
assessments on post conflict policy in the Democratic Republic
of Congo and programme funding in China.
We are undertaking a major review of data capturing
and monitoring systems. A new IT system will enable us to capture
increased data on all aspects of diversity and track any issues
which might be leading to gender bias or creating barriers to
women's progression through the Diplomatic Service.
3. Have your procurement policies and practices
been changed to take account of the gender equality duty? How
do they reflect this duty?
The FCO's Corporate Procurement Group has changed
the content of all model contracts to reflect the Gender and other
Equality Duties. Invitations to tender (ITT) documents set out
the FCO's gender diversity policy, linking directly to the Gender
Equality Duty and the FCO's Gender Equality Scheme. Bidders and
potential and actual suppliers are asked to provide evidence of
their own diversity policies.
Procurement training material for Management
Officers, responsible for sourcing services and supplies in our
overseas missions, includes specific references to the Gender
Equality Duty and the FCO's Gender Equality Scheme, in relation
to procurement processes and decisions.
4. Generally, are there any differences in
your approach to implementing the gender equality duty from your
approach to implementing the race equality duty?
We adopt a common approach to implementing all
strands of the FCO's Diversity Equality Scheme.
The FCO's diversity strategy is based on a broadened
approach embracing different skills, ways of thinking, working
and leadership styles, knowledge and openness to change as well
as more visible aspects of diversity including gender and ethnicity.
Our aim is that the FCO should be an open, accessible
organisation, listening to and taking account of the voices of
all groups in society when formulating and implementing the UK's
foreign policy priorities; serving all sections of British society
and recruiting and retaining an increasingly diverse, talented
and high-performing staff who support and develop each other,
are capable of developing and delivering effective foreign policy
and who are credible representatives of modern Britain, collectively
and individually.
September 2007
|
