Good Practice Guide Diversity in Recruitment to ... - The Civil Service

Annex: How the Guide came aboutThis Good Practice Diversity Guide on recruitment to the Senior Civil Service (SCS)was commissioned by the recruitment sub group of the Civil Service-wide DiversityChampions Network (DCN).The DCN was established to provide leadership and drive to achieve the aspirationsof the Civil Service 10 Point Plan on Diversity which was launched by Sir GusO’Donnell in November 2005. This plan sets out a framework for action across theCivil Service on achieving greater diversity at senior levels and to create a moreinclusive environment.The 10 Point Plan identified the need for guidance to be developed on diversity andrecruitment to the SCS, in order to promote good practice across the civil service.In June 2006 the DCN sub-group commissioned Moloney Search to review currentrecruitment practices across the Civil Service, the private sector and the role ofexecutive search firms, looking at what works well and what the issues are whentrying to recruit a diverse work force. This research has been used to inform thebasis of this good practice guide on recruitment to the SCS which could help todevelop capacity across all departments.As part of this review, interviews and meetings were held with Diversity Championsand Senior HR leads across 16 Government departments. Meetings were also heldwith 10 of the leading search firms including Egon Zehnder, Hays Executive, Odgers,and Whitehead Mann. Over 40 interviews were held with individuals who are eithercurrently or have been in the SCS, as well as people from Fast Stream and feedergrades 6/7. Focus groups were held and interviews conducted with 16 leadingprivate sector companies, including LloydsTSB, John Lewis Partnership, Diageo,Shell, and BP.In many ways the findings have been encouraging. Compared with other sectors,women in the SCS are well represented overall and also at the more senior grades.Representation of Black Minority and Ethnic (BME) people in the Civil Service isbroadly comparable to other sectors. The percentage of women in the SCS hasalmost doubled over the last decade, with women now representing more than athird of the Senior Civil Service. The Civil Service is therefore in a position of relativestrength. This can be built on to achieve even more success in the future.Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity – A Strategy for the Civil Service sets out thetargets we have in place to measure how equality and diversity are managed andvalued, and how well they are being integrated into business and workforceplanning. The main targets we aim to reach by 2013 (with a stretch target for doingso by 2011) are in the table below:WomenSCS %WomenTMP %BME %Disabled%Actual % (Mar ’09) 34.3 27.2 4.0 3.2Target % (2013)) 39.0 34.0 5.0 5.024