Reply to questionnaire by HM Treasury
GENDER EQUALITY
DUTY
1. What practical measures have you taken
to implement the duty in relation to the employees in 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?
Practical Measures to implement the duty
There are a number of case studies in
the department's Gender Equality Scheme http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/about_gender_equality.cfm
to illustrate the practical measures taken to implement the duty
in relation to employees in the department eg:
Page 23 Performance Appraisal and Equal Pay
Page 25 Initiatives to promote gender equality and
support employees with caring responsibilities
Page 26 Mentoring scheme for women in the Senior
Civil Service
Page 27 Support for employee networks and diversity
groups
The Women In The Treasury Network was launched
in July 2006. There is also a Treasury Parents Network that provides
an additional, informal support network for employees.
The Treasury is a member of Opportunity Now,
the membership organisation representing employers who want to
transform the workplace by ensuring inclusiveness for women.
The results of the Treasury's diversity monitoring
of employees are published on the external website. All data is
shared with managers, employees and the internal Women's Network.
Follow-up action is taken where the data shows there are issues
to be addressed and review processes put in place.
Equal Pay
The Treasury, as an employer, undertakes annual
gender pay reviews and where significant differences in pay between
men and women are detected action is taken. An example detailing
the methodology for address issues on equal pay for employees
is given in the Treasury's GES on pages 23-24.
Work to address Under Representation of Women
Women employees occupy more than one quarter
of top posts in the Treasury and nearly one third of SCS posts
overall. The Treasury is on course to meet the 2008 targets set
by the Cabinet office, for women in the Senior Civil Service and
Women in middle management (ie Ranges D and E). Progress against
the targets is published on the Treasury's external website at
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/about_equality.cfm in the
section Treasury Diversity Statistics
In order to maintain progress a Mentoring Scheme
for Senior Civil Service Women has been implemented. A process
is also being put in place to identify talented employees, from
under-represented groups, in the feeder grades, to ensure they
are developed in appropriate ways to enable them to compete
effectively for promotion.
Further details about the above work are in
chapter 6 of the Treasury's GES (The Employment Duties) http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/about/about_gender_equality.cfm
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?
The Treasury has reviewed policies and administrative
procedures for gender bias. Some examples on the actions taken
to correct bias, where identified, are set out in the department's
Gender Equality Scheme.
3. Have your procurement policies and practices
been changed to take account of the gender equality duty? How
do they reflect this duty?
CLG's Discrimination Law Review sets out the
current position on procurement and equality/diversity issues
Chapter 5 Public Sector Equality Duties Sections 5.91 ->5.100
of
4. Generally, are there any differences in
your approach to implementing the gender equality duty from your
approach to implementing the race equality duty?
There are some differences in the approach in
that specific objectives have been set in order to comply with
the Gender Equality Duty.
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