Reply to Questionnaire on by the Department
for Work and Pensions
1. What practical
measures have you taken to implement the duty in relation to the
employees of your Department?
— During the period leading up to the
introduction of the new duty the Department issued a series of
communications to staff via its internal website. The requirements
of the new duty were also included in a presentation given to
all staff by their line managers, plus an on-line training product
that was mandatory for all staff in DWP.
— (See also answer to question 2 below—background
of the scoping work carried out as part of our implementation
process within the Department). The Department's HR Directorate
has a Gender Action Plan (available on the DWP Internet and the
internal website) which sets out plans for implementing the gender
duty requirements for our employees. Progress reports on the plans
are to be published in December 2007.
Have you undertaken an equal pay audit or another
survey to detect any barriers to the full participation of women
in your workforce?
— The last DWP Equal Pay Audit was
completed in June 2004 and the findings from that Audit have been
fed into a full review of the Department's Reward Strategy. DWP
has identified that time spent in grade contributes to the gender
pay gap and for that reason this year's pay offer is targeted
at improving pay progression within grade. Following the implementation
of the pay award DWP will conduct a new equal pay audit to judge
what progress has been made and whether further action is required.
Any objectives that are identified through this will be fed into
the Department's Gender Equality Scheme.
— An annual DWP Staff Survey gathers
staff opinion on a range of issues including diversity and equality.
Results from the survey can be broken down by diversity group—this
enables us to highlight any specific issues relating to gender.
What have you done to address under-representation
of women in specific grades or types of post?
— DWP has a good representation of
women at most levels within the Department (68.9% of DWP staff
are women) but, for those grades where under-representation does
occur, targets and, where appropriate, development schemes, have
been established. The Department has set out its plans in its
published 10-Point Plan (on the Internet).
— DWP participates in a new leadership
development scheme run by the Cabinet Office and the National
School of Government. The programme, Leaders UnLtd, is open to
high potential civil servants at Grades 6 and 7 who are women,
who have a disability or who are from a minority ethnic background.
It aims to equip participants with the leadership skills they
need to prepare for entry to the Senior Civil Service.
— In response to a recommendation in
the Women and Work Commission report, DWP is currently considering
how best to set up mentoring schemes for staff at SEO, Grades
7 and 6. The scheme will be open to staff from groups under-represented
at senior levels, including women.
— DWP has also reviewed its processes
for recruitment to the Senior Civil Service in order to try and
attract a more diverse group of candidates. Guidance on using
the most effective ways of attracting suitable candidates has
been developed and a workshop to highlight good practice around
diversity recruitment has been developed for Senior Civil Service
recruiting managers. A series of "advertorials" in the
diversity press has aimed to raise awareness of DWP's aspirations
to recruit from diverse communities.
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?
— A scoping exercise was conducted
across DWP in advance of the implementation of the gender duty:
any actions arising from the scoping exercise have been included
in the published gender action plans.
— Equality Impact Assessments—including
gender impact assessments—are a requirement in DWP and the
published action plans include objectives for conducting retrospective
Impact Assessments where necessary. A training and guidance pack
(complemented by a series of workshops in key areas) has been
developed for those officials who conduct impact assessments.
All staff received training on the need to carry out impact assessments
as part of their mandatory training.
3. Have your procurement policies and practices
been changed to take account of the gender equality duty? How
do they reflect this duty?
— The Department is one of the largest
purchasers of goods and services in government and spend around
£4.28 billion a year. We want to make best use of procurement
as a lever to deliver equality objectives—to remove discrimination
and promote equality. The Department's sustainable procurement
strategy, launched in December 2005, supports us in using procurement
to achieve economic, social and environmental policy objectives.
DWP also follows the Office of Government Commerce's guidance,
which covers disability, gender and race equality, and focuses
on the way social issues can legitimately be incorporated into
the purchasing cycle.
— All our partners, suppliers and contractors
who provide a service to the public on our behalf have diversity
and equality policies that show a clear commitment to the "duty
to promote" equality. We encourage our suppliers of goods
and services to adopt diversity and equality policies that reflect
our own.
— As an example of the policy in practice,
Jobcentre Plus has made significant progress in incorporating
the requirements of equality legislation into procurement and
contract management activity. The new New Deal contracts, which
began to deliver customer services in the summer of 2006, include
clauses that require successful providers to monitor and report
to us on the ethnicity and gender of their employees, and on the
number of employees who are disabled.
(For further detailed information of
the Department's procurement policy please see the attached annex.)
4. Generally are there any differences in
your approach to implementing the gender equality duty from your
approach to implementing the race equality duty?
— DWP adopted broadly the same approach
to implementing the gender equality duty as it had for the race
equality duty, though the earlier experience was valuable in developing
the processes and products. A scoping exercise was conducted across
DWP and a working group took forward and co-ordinated the development
and delivery of the Department's 13 gender equality schemes. The
schemes were cleared at ministerial level before external publication.
Internal marketing of the equality schemes and the gender duty
was delivered via a series of articles in staff newsletters and
the mandatory, on-line training product. DWP's Gender Champion
and an active staff network group on gender have both helped to
promote the new duty.
Annex
DWP COMMERCIAL DOCUMENTATION AND PRACTICE
— Departmental commercial practice,
documentation and contract management processes support gender
equality. The duty is implicit within the Department's contracting
terms and supplier selection processes.
DEPARTMENTAL POLICY
— DWP commercial contracting terms
and conditions require that suppliers must act in accordance with
the Sex Discrimination Act and all analogous legislation. There
is synergy between the law and our commercial polices and contracting
terms. DWP terms also require that the supplier shall not unlawfully
discriminate within the meaning and scope of such provision and
include adherence to relevant Acts.
SUPPLIER APPRAISAL
AND CONTRACTING
Before awarding contracts, evidence of supplier
policy, statements and practice is routinely sought as part of
the supplier appraisal process.
Any supplier convicted of grave misconduct or
having been convicted of an offence under the Act may be rejected
under the Public Contracts Regulations 2006.
All our contracts for helping people back into
employment contain very specific requirements based on the principles
of equality and diversity. There are explicit terms which forbid
discrimination of any kind, including a paragraph in Schedule
8 (Equality and Diversity requirements) which states that:
"The Provider acknowledges that in the operation
of its employment programmes the Authority must at all times be
seen to be actively promoting equality of opportunity for, and
good relations between, all persons irrespective of their race,
disability, gender, age, sexual orientation or religion and belief.
In the performance of the Contract, the Provider shall, and shall
use reasonable endeavours to procure that its subcontractors shall,
assist and cooperate with the Authority where possible in satisfying
this duty."
The Department commonly uses pre-qualification
questionnaires which comprehensively cover all forms of discrimination.
MONITORING/PROMOTING
Suppliers are monitored against the relevant
terms of the contract. Where additional requirements for equality
and diversity are core to the contract, further terms are included
or specified in performance of the contract.
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