Equality Data 2010/11

HSE's workforce

The following four tables illustrate the diverse makeup of our organisation as at 31 March 2011 when our workforce was 3,602.

All tables read across from junior staff at Band 6 through to senior staff at SCS.

Table 1 - % of Age Group by Job Band

		*Band 6	*Band 5	*Band 4	*Band 3	*Band 2	*Band 1	*SCS
Age	Total staff in post by job band	Admin Officer equiv	Executive Officer equiv	Higher Executive Officer equiv	Senior Executive Officer equiv	Grade 7 equiv	Grade 6 equiv	SCS	Totals
16-24	37	35.14%	37.84%	18.92%	8.11%				100%
25-29	159	30.82%	22.01%	27.67%	18.87%	0.63%			100%
30-34	314	13.06%	13.38%	20.70%	47.45%	4.78%	0.64%		100%
35-39	421	12.59%	15.68%	14.01%	50.36%	6.18%	1.19%		100%
40-44	619	14.31%	18.37%	14.63%	37.72%	12.85%	2.11%	0.65%	100%
45-49	727	15.14%	14.17%	15.42%	35.28%	16.11%	3.89%	0.97%	100%
50-54	627	17.75%	14.01%	10.10%	34.36%	19.54%	4.23%	2.12%	100%
55-59	452	13.24%	10.96%	7.99%	28.31%	31.96%	7.53%	3.20%	100%
60-64	235	18.42%	10.96%	6.14%	32.46%	24.56%	7.46%	3.07%	100%
65+	11	54.55%			18.18%	18.18%	9.09%		100%

Table 2 - % of Gender by Job Band

		*Band 6	*Band 5	*Band 4	*Band 3	*Band 2	*Band 1	*SCS
Gender	Total staff in post by gender	Admin Officer equiv	Executive Officer equiv	Higher Executive Officer equiv	Senior Executive Officer equiv	Grade 7 equiv	Grade 6 equiv	SCS	Totals
Female	1646	25.17%	22.24%	14.84%	28.22%	7.51%	2.02%	0.55%	100%
Male	1956	8.13%	8.70%	12.71%	43.18%	22.50%	4.79%	1.88%	100%

Table 3 - % of Ethnicity by Job Band

		*Band 6	*Band 5	*Band 4	*Band 3	*Band 2	*Band 1	*SCS
Ethnicity	Total staff in post by ethnicity	Admin Officer equiv	Executive Officer equiv	Higher Executive Officer equiv	Senior Executive Officer equiv	Grade 7 equiv	Grade 6 equiv	SCS	Totals
BME	135	15.56%	23.70%	11.85%	37.04%	10.37%	1.48%		100%
White	2236	14.78%	14.78%	13.47%	36.33%	16.33%	4.31%	1.41%	100%
Not stated	1231	18.16%	14.22%	14.30%	36.15%	14.87%	2.30%	1.15%	100%

Table 4 - % of Disability by Job Band

		*Band 6	*Band 5	*Band 4	*Band 3	*Band 2	*Band 1	*SCS
Disability	Total staff in post by disability	Admin Officer equiv	Executive Officer equiv	Higher Executive Officer equiv	Senior Executive Officer equiv	Grade 7 equiv	Grade 6 equiv	SCS	Totals
Yes	139	32.12%	13.87%	16.79%	25.55%	11.68%		1.46%	100%
No	3149	15.34%	15.34%	12.67%	36.56%	16.33%	3.76%	1.25%	100%
Not stated	314	15.16%	11.29%	22.58%	38.39%	10.00%	2.58%	1.29%	100%

Tables 1 - 4

Demonstrating 'due regard' of equality and diversity in our policies, processes and our dealings with our staff

• When the Equality Act 2010 came into effect, we produced a range of equality guidance and information to support our managers and staff. The guidance was designed to help our staff to understand the new Act and what protected characteristics are included.
• HSE published it's first Dignity at Work statement during 2011, setting out how we should treat each other with respect and dignity; and telling our stakeholders and service providers how we expect them to behave towards our staff.
• Equality and diversity is embedded in all of HSE's HR polices and learning and development activities.
• The Civil Service People Survey encourages staff to feedback on their experiences; each government department receives anonymised People Survey data for their staff and HSE uses this, together with the data on our HR system, to better understand the experiences of our staff.  Issues of concern can be explored and actions taken where these are felt to be appropriate.  For example, HSE has commissioned additional research to help us to understand the responses to the People Survey; and we use Task and Finish Groups, made up of staff from across the organisation, who work together to explore issues of possible concern.  Outcomes include improved guidance for managers and staff; new training and awareness raising activities; additional avenues of support for managers etc.
• Everyone who applies for a job with HSE is asked to give their diversity data; this means we can monitor the experiences of people with protected characteristics at each stage of the recruitment process. For example, it emerged that the number of people from ethnic minorities, or declaring as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) applying for jobs with us were low.  We now advertise our vacancies in ethnic minority press and on local ethnic minority radio stations; on an LGB employment website and in specific LGB publications.

The Government's recruitment freeze means we have done very little recruitment over the last year, so we are still reviewing the effectiveness and value of many of these initiatives, and we will continue to explore new options for encouraging people to consider a career with HSE:

• We have a Diversity Steering Group, a senior management group comprising HSE's diversity champions and others involved in equality and diversity within HSE. The Group considers equality initiatives, and monitors and reviews actions against our diversity action plan.
• HSE supports a number of diversity staff networks, each of which comprises people with particular protected characteristics. The networks support colleagues, help to raise awareness of equality and diversity issues, are part of the Diversity Steering Group structure, and support the organisation on equality and diversity initiatives.
• We have specific guidance for managers and staff on Workplace Adjustments to support staff with disabilities.
• We also understand that managers and staff may want to discuss an equality or diversity issue with someone from outside HSE. Everyone in HSE has access to our Employee Assistance providers, Right Corecare, who are on-hand for people to go to for support.
• Finally, when people leave HSE we encourage them to complete an exit questionnaire, which asks them about their experience while working with us, and asks them about their reasons for leaving. The questionnaires are reviewed so that if there are issues of concern they can be investigated.

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Recruitment

The following four tables illustrate the recruitment into HSE during the period 1 April 2010 - 31 March 2011. HSE recruited 140 people during 2010/11

Table 5 - Recruitment by age

Age range	% Count
16-24	11.43%
25-29	12.86%
30-34	14.29%
35-39	15.71%
40-44	15.71%
45-49	12.86%
50-54	13.57%
55-59	1.43%
60-64	2.14%
65+	0.00%

The nature of HSE's work means that we recruit people across the age ranges. We recruit people of all ages for our non-technical posts. For our regulators, who have to successfully complete a postgraduate diploma training course, we look for people who have the relevant background and experience so ages can vary. In addition for our specialists we need people with the skills and knowledge gained through working in their relevant field. Our specialist recruits are, therefore, often more mature (nuclear, offshore, mechanical engineering etc) as the level of specialist knowledge we need these people to have will often have taken many years to develop.

Tables 6 - 8

Table 6 - Recruitment by gender			Table 7 - Recruitment by ethnicity			Table 8 - Recruitment by disability
Gender	% Count		Ethnicity	% Count		Disability	% Count
Female	37.14%		BME	4.29%		Yes	0.71%
Male	62.86%		White	34.29%		No	53.57%
			Not stated	61.43%		Not stated	45.71%

Tables 5 - 8

The nature of HSE's work is often highly specialised; we recruit people with specialist skills and expertise gained during many years in their industry. Many of these areas of specialism can still be more predominantly male rather than female; the number of people of ethnic minority has historically been low in these fields; and disability rates are also low. Each of these factors impacts on the diverse make-up of the groups of people who have the skills and expertise HSE requires to operate effectively.

Labour Force data reflecting the make-up of the specialist areas from which HSE recruit

Using employment information from the Annual Population Survey (APS) we have isolated demographic structures of individuals working in key occupations relevant to HSE, and compared them with that of all workers in Great Britain. The key occupations that we have chosen are those that exhibit the specialist skills required for the job roles at HSE.

Due to insufficient sample numbers, it is not possible to look at only those with a given level of prior work experience, so the data below reflects all individuals working in the key HSE occupations rather than only those with a higher level of experience.

Employment data is based on a 3 year average, using data from 2008 to 2010. The occupations grouped together for the HSE occupation list are as follows:

• Inspectors of factories, utilities and trading standards
• Statutory examiners
• Occupational hygienists and safety officers
• Biological scientists
• Mechanical engineers
• Electrical engineers
• Production and process engineers
• Psychologists

Table 9

Gender	HSE Occupations	GB All Occupations
Male	74%	53%
Female	26%	47%

Those working in the HSE key occupations are predominantly male - 74% instead of 53%, which is the GB average for those in employment.

Table 10

Age Group	HSE Occupations	GB All Occupations
16-24	5%	13%
25-29	12%	11%
30-34	13%	10%
35-39	13%	12%
40-44	13%	13%
45-49	13%	13%
50-54	12%	11%
55-59	10%	9%
60-64	7%	6%
65+	3%	3%

Those working in the occupations with the skill sets required to work as a specialist at HSE have a tendency to be older than the GB average - 45% are over the age of 45, compared to 40% in GB as a whole.

Table 11

Ethnic Group	HSE Occupations	GB All Occupations
White	93%	91%
BME	7%	9%

93% of those employed in the HSE occupations state that their ethnic background is White, leaving 7% in an ethnic minority - this is higher than the GB average for those in employment, at 91%.

Table 12

Disability Status	HSE Occupations	GB All Occupations
Not disabled	88%	87%
DDA disabled and work-limiting disabled	4%	5%
DDA disabled	6%	5%
Work-limiting disabled only	2%	3%

Tables 9 - 12

Looking at disability status, those employed in key HSE occupations are slightly more likely than average to have no disability, though the difference is only by 1%.

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Leavers

The following tables illustrate the people who left HSE in the period 1 April 2010 – 31 March 2011. In total, 386 people left HSE during this period. Of these, 199 left as a result of HSE offering a Voluntary Early Release scheme (in response to the Government's Spending Review and drive to reduce the size of the Civil Service). The following set of tables illustrates the pattern of leavers, both excluding and including those people who left through VER.

Tables 13 and 14

Table 13 - Leavers by age excluding VER			Table 14 - Leavers by age including VER
Excluding VER leavers – 187 people			Including VER leavers – 386 people
Age range	% Count		Age range	% Count
16-24	4.30%		16-24	2.07%
25-29	9.68%		25-29	4.92%
30-34	13.98		30-34	7.77%
35-39	5.38%		35-39	5.18%
40-44	13.98%		40-44	12.18%
45-49	2.69%		45-49	4.92%
50-54	6.99		50-54	11.92%
55-59	7.53%		55-59	24.09%
60-64	29.57%		60-64	22.80%
65+	5.91%		65+	4.15%

Tables 15 and 16

Table 15 - Leavers by gender excluding VER			Table 16 - Leavers by gender including VER
Excluding VER leavers – 187 people			Including VER Leavers – 386 people
Gender	% Count		Gender	% Count
Female	37.10%		Female	45.34%
Male	62.90%		Male	54.66%

Tables 17 and 18

Table 17 - Leavers by ethnicity excluding VER			Table 18 - Leavers by ethnicity including VER
Excluding VER Leavers – 187 people			Including VER Leavers – 386 people
Ethnicity	% Count		Ethnicity	% Count
BME	3.23%		BME	3.89%
White	50.00%		White	57.77%
Not stated	46.77%		Not stated	38.34%

Tables 19 and 20

Table 19 - Leavers by disability excluding VER			Table 20 - Leavers by disability including VER
Excluding VER Leavers – 187 people			Including VER Leavers – 386 people
Disability	% Count		Disability	% Count
Yes	5.38%		Yes	5.70%
No	77.96%		No	84.46%
Not stated	16.67%		Not stated	9.84%

Tables 13 - 20

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Voluntary Early Release Scheme (VER)

The VER scheme was open for applications from all HSE staff. An equality impact assessment was carried out throughout the 3 stages of the process to ensure that due regard was given to equality and diversity. The assessment indicated that the selection process was fair, open to all staff and that there was no evidence of a negative impact on any group of people with a protected characteristic.

The table below is an extract from the Equality Impact Assessment illustrating the diversity profile of the people considered for early release.

Table 21 - Protected characteristics for the people considered for early release

Diversity profile of staff involved in each of the 3 stages of the VES process
		Stage 1 - Application (662)		Stage 2 - Consideration (574)		Stage 3 - Released (199)
Protected Characteristic		Declared Headcount	Declared %	Declared Headcount	Declared %	Declared Headcount	Declared %
Age	19 - 29	10	1.5	10	1.8	1	0.5
	30 - 39	60	9.0	49	8.6	14	7.0
	40 - 49	134	20.3	118	20.6	35	17.6
	50 -59	360	54.4	313	54.6	112	56.3
	60+	98	14.9	84	14.7	37	18.6
Disability		41	6.2	34	6.0	12	6.0
Gender	Female	336	50.8	283	49.3	105	53.0
	Male	326	49.3	291	50.6	94	47.0
Race	BME	11	1.7	8	1.4	8	4.0
	White	651	98.3	494	98.6	191	96

Table 21

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Learning and Development activities

The following tables illustrate the take-up of learning and development activities during the period 1 April 2010 - 31 March 2011 based on our workforce at that time of 3,602.

Tables 22 - 25

Table 22 - Learning & Development activities by age			Table 23 - Learning & Development activities by gender			Table 24 - Learning & Development activities by ethnicity			Table 25 - Learning & Development activities by disability
Age range	% Take Up		Gender	% Take Up		Ethnicity	% Take Up		Disability	% Take Up
16-24	51.35%		Female	51.62%		BME	72.59%		Yes	49.64%
25-29	51.57%		Male	63.49%		White	57.28%		No	57.33%
30-34	62.42%					Not stated	57.76%		Not stated	68.71%
35-39	62.95%
40-44	56.75%
45-49	58.75%
50-54	57.17%
55-59	61.42%
60-64	46.05%
65+	45.45%

Tables 22 - 25

In HSE, learning and development activities are accessible to all staff. Training needs are identified in a number of ways eg through regular performance reviews; to support a move to a new area of work; as part of a person’s development action plan etc.

HSE's equality and diversity policies are embedded in all aspects of our training programmes; course material is reviewed prior to use to ensure due consideration has been given to equality and diversity issues; and equality and diversity is discussed on a regular basis with our training providers.

Take up of learning and development activities for all our staff is recorded on our electronic HR system.  We then analyse the data to identify take-up rates by groups of people with protected characteristics.  This data is reviewed in relation to equality and diversity at least annually.

Our booking system for learning and development activities encourages people to flag up any special requirements they may have i.e. in relation to a disability or caring responsibility. Our training providers are made aware of any such issues; course materials are made available in alternative formats; additional support is available during activities; and course feedback forms from participants invite comments on people’s experiences on the event, particularly where requests for reasonable adjustments were made. Any issues raised during events, or via feedback forms are discussed with our training providers as part of regular reviews.

Table 24 shows a higher rate of take-up of learning and development activities for ethnic minority (BME) staff compared to staff who do not have this protected characteristic. During the period 2010/11 HSE ran a Career Development Programme for ethnic minority staff in our lower administrative job bands, who were identified as having the potential to progress. The need for the programme came about following research by our Human Resource team, which showed that, although there were no systemic problems with HR processes, ethnic minority members of staff were still under-represented at our senior job bands.

This was a positive action initiative with the aims that the programme would help HSE by helping to tackle under-representation; develop talented ethnic minority staff; build HSE's reputation as a diverse employer; and encourage other ethnic minority members of staff to develop their careers.

The programme involved a range of activities to support personal development plans, including skills workshops (covering personal, leadership and organisational issues), mentoring, action learning sets, personal development activities and an attachment or project.

The two year programme will end in April 2012.

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Equality analysis

All our completed Equality Impact Assessments (EIAs) are published annually.

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Key

HSE	Health & Safety Executive
Job bands
Band 6 Band 5 Bands 4-1 SCS	Junior administrative job band Supervisor level Middle to senior management Senior Civil Service
BME	Black, minority ethnic
HR	Human Resources
DDA	Disability Discrimination Act

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