Select Committee on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Written Evidence


Reply to questionnaire by the Home Office

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?

  In April 2007, the Home Office published its Gender Equality Scheme as part of its Race, Disability and Gender Equality Scheme (RDG Scheme) with associate schemes being produced for each of its agencies. The GES action plan for the core scheme identified some 45 actions in relation to gender issues. Furthermore, in May, the Home Office launched its 3-year Diversity Strategy supported by a high level Diversity Strategy Programme Board. The board is there to ensure the department meets all of its responsibilities both as an employer and a provider of services.

Pay

  Triennial equal pay audits were conducted in 2002 and 2005 and will be repeated in 2008. The 2002 and 2005 audits were shared with and discussed with the Trade Union representatives of staff. The results have also helped inform the detail of pay awards, in particular reducing the potential for pay differential for staff doing work of equal value.

  The RDG Scheme contains further actions in respect of pay which aim; to continue to reduce any pay differential; reduce the minimum and maximum time taken through salary scales with a view to providing fairer outcomes for all staff, and the pay review of 2008 will move from salaries to earnings which will give a more accurate reflection of any pay differentials.

  Home Office agencies, the Identity and Passport Service, Criminal Records Bureau and Borders and Immigration Agency, also have robust approaches to ensuring equal pay.

Addressing under-representation

  The Home Office has undertaken a number of initiatives (listed below) to improve representation and this is further complimented by one of the specific Aims of the Home Office 3-Year Diversity Strategy: Potential of under-represented groups developed to create a representative workforce at all levels.

  The Fast Stream "In-Service Nomination Scheme (07) received a total of 66 applications. The initial sift identified 35 candidates to go forward to the assessment centre, of which, 7 (20%) BME, 13 (34.2%) female, and 2 (6%) disabled. Following the assessment centre, a final sift was conducted and 18 candidates were put through, of which, 5 BME, 7 female, and 2 disabled applicants were put forward for the Fast Stream.

  Development Plus is a positive action learning and development programme designed for female and minority ethnic staff across the Home Office and its Agencies.

  Leaders UnLtd is a new corporate leadership development scheme designed specifically for talented people in groups currently under-represented in the Senior Civil Service. Leaders UnLtd is open to Grade 6/7 (or equivalent or on a minimum three year fixed-term contract) UK civil servants who are either:

    —  women;

    —  have a disability; or are

    —  from minority ethnic backgrounds.

  The Intensive Development Programme (IDP) has been running since 2001. The total number of IDP members covering the period 2001-07 is 87. Twenty-one women participated, two former members have since gained promotion to G6 and another has been selected for Leaders UnLtd.

  The New Leaders Programme (NLP) is the BIA version of IDP and has been running since April 2006. The total number of NLP participants covering this period is 51, of which, 8 were of BME origin, 30 were female, and 2 participants identified as disabled.

  Positive action measures will naturally be open to transsexual women. Any barriers to representation of such women in any specific grade or type of post will be identified in the "Barriers to Career Progression of Transsexual and Transgender Employees" "Barriers Research project".

2.   Have you reviewed the policies procedures of your Department for gender bias? What action have you taken to correct any such bias?

  See response to question 1 as much of the material provided there addresses this question.

3.   Have your procurement policies and practices been changed to take account of the gender equality duty? How do they reflect this duty?

  A specific action identified in the RDG Scheme is to conduct an EIA of current service provision and revise policy to ensure increased quality of services.

  In addition, a further aim of the new Home Office 3-Year Diversity Strategy is Services are delivered in a way that promotes equality and respects diversity. Among the key targets and milestones set against this aim is the need to ensure all guidance and standard contractual arrangements explicitly outline supplier's responsibilities to monitor services in accordance with the general equality duties by the end of 2008.

  The revised Home Office Procurement Policy and Procedures Manual contains a section on guidance on Equality and Diversity. The section contains references to relevant equalities legislation—including the Sex Discrimination Act 1975 and Equality Act 2006—as well as having clear guidance on procedure. The manual has been issued to all Heads of Procurement in the Home Office, Agencies and NDPB's.

  IPS is currently undertaking a pilot project to lead in public sector best practice for embedding equality into the procurement exercises. Terms and Conditions for tendering processes are being revised to ensure that IPS meets it legal obligations of ensuring its delivery partners, third party service providers and suppliers meet their own standards in equality and diversity, particularly in the areas of gender, race and disability.

  IPS is currently collecting and analysing data about the diversity of staff who were recruited by its recruitment agencies to examine whether IPS is procuring the services of agencies who are supplying a diverse workforce in the same way as our own recruitment processes.

4.   Generally, are there any differences in your approach to implementing the gender equality duty from your approach to implementing the race equality duty?

  As stated in response to question 1, the Home Office and its agencies are implementing their Gender Equality Scheme/s as part of combined Race, Disability and Gender scheme/s. This is advantageous as each Scheme is thereby reviewed annually, and gender equality is fully embedded as Equality Impact Assessments cover race, disability and gender.

  Immigration and Nationality functions of the department are exempt from the Race Relations Act 1976 (as amended). This is because the application of the immigration and nationality legislation necessarily involves treating some nationalities differently to others, for example, with regard to the freedom of movement into the UK of EEA nationals. It has no such exemption with regard to the Gender Equality Duty. In the asylum context, for example, the Border and Immigration Agency is conscious of the fact that a woman's experience of persecution may be very different from that of a man, and that she may well come into the asylum system in the UK with different needs. General instructions remind decision makers of issues that particularly affect women, such as female genital mutilation.





 
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Prepared 9 February 2008