BIS WORKFORCE INFORMATION 2012 - 2013 
Equality and Diversity 

## Contents

Introduction ................................................................................................................2 Equality and Diversity Information...........................................................................2 BIS Staff in post .........................................................................................................3 BIS Flexible Working Arrangements........................................................................4 
Available work patterns within BIS ...........................................................................4 Employee views .......................................................................................................5 
Paying due regard......................................................................................................5 Equal Pay....................................................................................................................6 Public Appointments .................................................................................................7 

## Introduction

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is committed to embracing and valuing diversity and promoting equality of opportunity within its workforce. Our goal is to ensure that these commitments, reinforced by our values, are embedded in our day-to-day working practices with all our customers, colleagues and partners. The department, as part of its compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty, advances equality of opportunity for all its employees, and does not tolerate discrimination on grounds of gender, gender identity, marital status, sexual orientation, ethnicity, nationality, religion, age, disability, HIV positivity, working pattern, caring responsibilities, trade union activity, political beliefs - or on any other grounds. BIS demonstrates this by:  

 
aiming to build a workforce that reflects the community it serves and 
works with;  
 
treating customers, colleagues and partners fairly and with respect; 
 
promoting an environment free from discrimination, bullying and harassment - actively tackling behaviour that breaches this; 
 
recognising and valuing diversity and the individual contributions 
people make; and 
 
providing support and encouragement to staff to develop their careers 
and enhance their contributions to the organisation through the enhancement of their skills and abilities. 

## Equality And Diversity Information

The Equality Duty, which requires public bodies to have due regard to the need to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity and foster good relations, is underpinned by specific equality duties. These require certain public bodies, including BIS, to publish equality objectives (every four years) and equality information (annually). This document provides BIS data on equality and diversity in relation to its workforce.   

## Please Note:

 The data in this document has not been designated as Official Statistics 
and should not be treated as such.   
 Information published is in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 
and does not identify individuals. 
 Information on fewer than ten people is not published - small numbers are 
represented using an asterix and includes areas with 0 response. 
 Percentages in tables may not add to 100% because of independent 
rounding. 

## Bis Staff In Post

Staff in Post - 31 March 2013 
(Total headcount = 3147) 
 
Total 
% against headcount 
Male 
1629 
52 
Gender 
Female 
1518 
48 
White 
1233 
39 
BME 
347 
11 
Ethnic Origin 
Not Declared 
1567 
50 
Disabled 
199 
6 
Not Disabled 
2020 
64 
Disability 
Not Declared 
928 
29 
Heterosexual 
756 
24 
LGB 
46 
1 
Sexual 
Orientation 
Not declared 
2345 
75 
Declared 
821 
26 
Religion or Belief 
Not Declared 
2326 
74 
25 and under 
138 
4 
26-35 
657 
21 
36-45 
823 
26 
Age 
46-55 
1122 
36 
56-65 
377 
12 
Over 65 
30 
1 

 Staff Diversity Declaration rates Declaration rates on diversity and inclusion in BIS are relatively low compared to other government departments though respectable compared with declaration rates across the corporate world. We have launched an on-going campaign to encourage staff to make a diversity declaration but we do not mandate this. The data presented here show the diversity declaration rates for the Department's employees as percentages against each of the following protected characteristics: age; disability; ethnicity; and gender.  

## 

Staff declaration rates (as at 31 March 2013) 


Sexual orientation declaration count 
Any declaration count 
Disability (including none) declaration count 
Ethnic origin declaration count 
Religion / belief (including none) declaration count 
72% 
70%
50%
26% 
25%

## Bis Flexible Working Arrangements

BIS is the lead government department responsible for government policy on flexible working in the UK. As both a policy maker and an employer, BIS recognises and promotes the clear benefits associated with flexible working. The Department allows all employees, including those who do not have a statutory right, to request a flexible working arrangement.  We expect line managers to consider all requests fairly and evenly and on their individual merits, taking the needs of the business and the wider team into account, as well as those of the individual. BIS also supports flexibility to allow staff to undertake a wide range of activities, such as volunteering as school governors, undertaking training opportunities or community activities. 

Available work patterns within BIS 
Flexible working provides employees with the opportunity to work a range of working patterns that can help them balance their work and personal commitments alongside the needs of the business.  Staff in BIS can request to work: 

 Part-time - Workers are contracted to work less than standard, basic, 
full-time hours. 
 Flexi-time - Staff work their conditioned hours around the 'core times' 
but with flexibility around this. 
 Compressed working hours - Workers can cover their total number of 
hours in fewer working days. 
 Job sharing - One full-time job is split between two workers who agree 
the hours between them. 
 Annualised hours - Staff work a set number of hours on an annual 
basis, allowing an uneven spread throughout the year (for example fewer hours during school holidays).  
 Home working - staff spend all or part of their week working from home 
or somewhere else away from the employer's premises. 

 Career break / special leave - this enables employees to take an 
extended period of time off work. This may be paid or unpaid, 
depending on the circumstances.   

## Employee Views

Results from the **BIS People Survey 2012** (staff survey conducted across the civil service) showed:-. 

 65% of staff working part-time and 77%* of staff working in a job share 
arrangement reported that they felt their performance was evaluated fairly, compared with 64% of full-time staff. 
 77% of staff working in a job share and 76% of staff working part-time 
reported they think BIS respects individual differences (e.g. cultures, 
working styles, backgrounds and ideas etc). This compares favourably 
with 71% of those who worked full-time. 
 * The figure reflects the number of staff who completed the question on job share in the People Survey. 

## Paying Due Regard

 Diversity is about recognising, valuing and taking account of people's different backgrounds, knowledge, skills and experiences. It is about creating a working culture and practices that recognise, respect and value difference for the benefit of the organisation and the individual. BIS is committed to creating a working environment in which diversity is recognised, valued and celebrated. An important aspect of this is assessing the impact of our policies and implementation on protected characteristics to ensure there is no adverse impact or unintended consequence1.  
Diversity is also about creating a fairer, more inclusive environment where everyone can participate and has the opportunity to fulfill their potential. It means:  

 
treating everyone equally whatever their age, ethnic or social background, religion, belief, sexual orientation, gender, disability or 
lifestyle  
 
valuing and respecting different opinions, styles and perspectives  
 
creating equal opportunities for everyone, but recognising that 
people have unique differences and needs  
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 
enabling people to use their unique skills and experiences to improve the quality and business performance of the organisation  
 
allowing self-expression and letting people be themselves  
 
developing a better understanding of our customers' diverse needs  
 
including everyone.  
The Department has seven active staff diversity networks covering age; 
disability; sexual orientation (LGBT), race, religion or belief (including none), one for part-time staff and one for staff with caring responsibilities.  The disability network has a number of sub-groups focussing on particular aspects of disability such as mental health or visual impairment. These networks not only act as support groups for their respective communities, but also help the department comply with the Equality Duty by offering advice to policy makers on equality issues through out the policy development phase. BIS conducts an annual People Survey for all staff as part of the cross- Whitehall survey, with some questions specifically aimed at those with protected characteristics so that underlying issues can be addressed. See link to **BIS People Survey 2012**. 

 

## Equal Pay

Since its creation through a Machinery of Government transfer in June 2009, BIS has operated two different pay systems, one (ex-BERR) with contractual progression arrangements and the other (ex-DIUS) with no contractual progression, but generally slightly higher rates of pay. The two systems also operate differently for specialist pay. We are expecting to move to a new single pay system of base pay and specialist pay next year, and will be consulting and negotiating with Treasury and the Departmental Trade Unions accordingly.  We know that there is a 1% cap on Civil Service pay for the next three years as announced in the Chancellor's Budget statement.  All future awards will be subject to the usual negotiation process with the Trade Unions. 

## Public Appointments

For the 2012/13 reporting year, the Department made 96 public appointments, of which 56 were new appointments and 40 were re-appointments. 

Gender 
Male 
74 
77% 
Female 
22 
23% 
 
Ethnicity 
White 
92 
96% 
Undeclared 
* 
4% 
 
Disability 
No 
68 
71% 
Undeclared 
28 
29% 
 
Sexual orientation 
Heterosexual 
* 
1% 
Undeclared 
95 
99% 
 
Religion/belief 
Undeclared 
96 
100% 
 
Age 
26-35 
* 
1% 
36-45 
10 
10% 
46-55 
20 
21% 
56-65 
37 
39% 
65+ 
* 
6% 
Undeclared 
22 
23% 

* fewer than 10 staff showing (also includes 0 response). 


## 

Other information We are currently unable to provide data on a range of issues as it is still in the process of being analysed within the Department.  This includes Performance Management, the Gender Pay Gap and flexible working patterns.  We will provide an update to this document as soon as this information is available. 

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