Business, Innovation and Skills CommitteeWritten evidence submitted by the Royal College of Physicians

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) plays a leading role in the delivery of high quality patient care by setting standards of medical practice and promoting clinical excellence. We provide physicians in the United Kingdom and overseas with education, training and support throughout their careers. As an independent body representing over 27,500 fellows and members worldwide, we advise and work with government, the public, patients and other professions to improve health and healthcare.

Introduction

1. The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) welcomes the Business, Innovation and Skills Committee inquiry into Women in the Workplace: call for written evidence. We value the opportunity to provide comment on the following questions.

Questions and Comments

2. Do the Gender Equality Duty and the Equality Act go far enough in tackling inequalities, such as gender pay gap and job segregation, between men and women in the workplace?

This might not be the case in medicine and we would direct the committee as follows:

(a)GMC report—The state of medical education and practice in the UK report: 2012 especially Chapter 1, page 21.

(b)Information on newly appointed consultants from the RCP medical workforce survey of new consultants (see below) suggests that men are much more likely to be appointed to full-time consultant posts than women. We are uncertain whether this is because male consultants are more likely than women to be appointed to full-time posts or less likely than women to apply for part-time posts. It is important to note that this is percentages of those appointed to consultant posts that are working full-time or less than full time, not percentage of all those appointed to consultant posts.

PERCENTAGE OF NEW CONSULTANT APPOINTMENTS 2006–10

(c)Preliminary analysis of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges data (see below) suggests that women are more able to obtain flexible working hours than men. However it should be noted that the data is not a random or representative sample. Also that issues regarding bullying in the workplace are not usually associated with the issues of flexible working or gender but may be a greater issue for doctors with a long-term illness or disability.

Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) –Flexibility and Equality Survey Summary of findings—1,162 responses across the Medical Royal Colleges

Grade at which currently employed and whether this is full-time or ltft of 1119 responses usable for this question:

Grade at which currently employed	Number of grade (% of those at grade) working LTFT	Number (% of those at grade) working full-time
Trainee (FY1-ST7)	700 (89)	87 (11)
SAS/Specialty doctor	33 (84.5)	6 (15.5)
Consultant	192 (73)	70 (27)
General Practice	6 (66.5) *	3 (33.5) *
Other	13 (59) *	9 (41) *
Total	944 (84.5)	175 (15.5)
Grade at which currently employed	Working LTFT (% of which are women)	Working full-time (% which are women)
Trainee (FY1-ST7)	700 (97%)	87 (60%)
SAS/Specialty doctor	33 (93%)	6 (0%)
Consultant	192 (82%)	70 (60%)
General Practice	6 *	3 *
Other	13 *	9 *

*small numbers

(3 respondents in dentistry, 1 currently a trainee)

Did you have any difficulty in negotiating your current contract	Females**	Males**	Those declaring a disability or long-term health problem
yes	185 (23.5%)	23 (35.5%)	31 (42%)
no	605	42	43
Of those working LTFT any difficulty negotiating your current contract
yes	173 (22.5%)	16 (30%)
no	592	37

**49 respondents did not disclose their gender
23.5% women, 35.5% men and 42% those declaring a disability or long-term health problem had difficulties when negotiating the time commitment of their current contract

Have you been bullied during your career	Female	Male
No	651	86
Yes	211 (24.5%)	29 (25%)
Total	862	115

Two individuals said that they had been bullied in relation to their LTFT status

Have you been bullied during your career	Those without disability or long term illness	Those with disability or long term illness
No	690	46
Yes	200 (22%)	40 (46.5%)
Total	890	86

3. What steps should be taken to provide greater transparency on pay and other issues, such as workforce composition?

There seems to be a reasonable amount of information published, but it is not necessarily easily accessible.

The ACCEA awards system looks at issues of gender and race. However, it is not clear whether there is variable representation of women on the committees that would support their applications to a system that rewards working above and beyond their NHS contract and whether this is because of real or perceived barriers.

4. What has been the impact of the current economic crisis on female employment and wage levels?

There is anecdotal information that trusts are increasingly advertising less than full-time contracts where previously they would have advertised a full-time post. It is not yet clear whether men are disproportionately unlikely to apply for less than full time posts. These data may be more apparent in this year’s new consultant survey run by the RCP medical workforce unit.

4 October 2012