welcome to the lga diversity and inclusion masterclass and... · welcome to the lga diversity and...
TRANSCRIPT
Welcome to the LGA Diversity
and Inclusion Masterclass
20 February 2019 www.local.gov.uk
Cllr Nikki Hennessy, Lancashire Fire and
Rescue Authority and Member of the Fire
Services Management Committee
Background to today
Fire Services Management Committee
Diversity as a priority
Today’s speakers
www.local.gov.uk
Diversity and inclusion in Fire
Services inspections
Lee Brathwaite
HMICFRS
Portfolio Support Officer
This session will cover
• An introduction to HMICFRS
• People inspection methodology – values,
culture, fairness and diversity
• Graded judgments (what does ‘good’ look like?)
• Themes from tranche 1 inspections
Introduction to HMICFRS
HMICFRS’ purpose
To promote improvements in fire & rescue
services to make everyone safer
HMICFRS’ role
HMICFRS independently assesses fire and
rescue services – in the public interest
Our objectives
• Conduct informed, independent and
evidence-based inspections
• Work with others to promote improvements
in fire & rescue services
• Report our inspection findings in a clear and
compelling way
Core Questions
• 1. How effective is the FRS at keeping people
safe and secure from fires and other risks?
• 2. How efficient is the FRS at keeping people
safe and secure from fires and other risks?
• 3. How well does the FRS look after its people?
25% of inspection activity will be focused on people
Tranche 1 gradings
TRANCHE 1 Outstanding Good RI Inadequate
Effectiveness 0 10 4 0
Efficiency 0 8 5 1
People 0 3 10 1
TOTAL 0 21 19 2
People methodology
How well does the FRS look after its people?
3.1 How well does the FRS
promote its values and
culture?
How well trained and skilled are
FRS staff?
3.3 How well does the FRS
ensure fairness and diversity?
How well does the FRS develop leadership and
capability?
3.1.3 How well do leaders demonstrate they model and
maintain the values the FRS expects of them?
People methodology
How well does the FRS look after its people?
How well does the FRS promote
its values and culture?
How well trained and skilled are
FRS staff?
3.3 How well does the FRS
ensure fairness and diversity?
How well does the FRS develop leadership and
capability?
3.3.3 How well does the FRS identify and address
potential disproportionality in recruitment, retention, and
progression for staff with protected characteristics?
Graded judgments
• The FRS has a values and behaviours statement that is understood
and demonstrated at all levels within the organisation.
• The FRS is exploiting opportunities to ensure that its workforce
reflects the community it represents and it promotes diversity at all
levels within the organisation
• The FRS promotes equality and diversity and engages with under-
represented groups in the workforce to resolve staff concerns and
ensure fair and open opportunities for all
• The FRS has an effective system to understand and remove the risk
of discrimination in recruitment and promotion processes …….
Tranche 1 themes
• Staff dedication and commitment
• Mixed understanding and demonstration of
service values and behaviours
• Watch culture
• FRS workforce diversity – the numbers
• Positive action and focussed recruitment
• Understanding the benefits of workforce diversity
• Staff networks and steering groups
Contact
Assistant Portfolio Director (People)
Lee Brathwaite:
or
Portfolio Support Officer (People)
Tamsin Morrall:
Supporting your Fire Service
with the Diversity Agenda
Station Commander Samantha Samuels
Business Partner Tristan Dugdale-Pointon
Why Diversity
• Legal case
• Moral case
• Business case
• What we aspire to achieve
• What we have achieved
• Challenge you to influence
WMFS People Strategy The Moral and Business Case
Flexible Workforce
Evolution Ready
Embed DICE
Reflective of Communities
WMFS approach • Recruitment is just the start
• Sustaining Diversity
• Being bold
• Being open and transparent
• Its all connected
The Role of Authority members
• Scrutiny
• Authority members representing your
communities
• Authority members bringing their own
diversity and experience
Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety Service
Kathryn Billing – Creating an Inclusive Fire Authority.
Introduction
• Kathryn Billing – Area Manager Service Delivery
Operations
• Cornwall Fire, Rescue and Community Safety
Service
• 123 Members of a Unitary Fire Authority
• Liberal Democrats (37) and Independent (30)
Combined – Conservative (46)
Topics for discussion
• Why Diversity and Inclusion?
• An inclusive and diverse culture and why is it essential?
• The National agenda for the Fire Sector
• Examine barriers and challenges how to overcome them.
• Leading inclusion and diversity – its about YOU!
• Keep it simple its just about respect and humanity.
What is and why do we need - Diversity?
• Diversity is what defines who we are….our differences
• We are all different! Diversity isn't just on the outside!
• Diversity of thinking, ways of working, ideas,
communication, resilience.
• Delivering the best Service for your communities
What is and why do we need - Inclusion
• Everyone feels 100% comfortable to come to work
and/or to access our services, feeling 100% respected
and valued for being who they are.
• Open for Business research undertaken by Virgin, IBM
Google. Having an inclusive culture makes them 40%
more productive.
• An inclusive organisation will naturally provide a better
service with happier more effective people.
• Enables people to be the best they can be!
The National Agenda
• Thomas review - culture
• National Fire Chiefs Council – People strategy
• Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and
Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS).
• Diversity and Inclusion is more than just numbers!
You will NEVER have a service which represents
everyone's difference, but it should be better than it
is!
What are the barriers to a diverse and an
inclusive culture?
• Language
• Policies
• Conditions of service, duty Systems
• Facilities
• Unconscious bias
• Sub cultures
• Lived values
Leading inclusion and promoting diversity.
• Leadership – at all levels – Role models.
• Ownership of inclusion and diversity - its what we
all do.
• Challenge – face to face discussions.
• Staff support and engagement groups.
• Staff involvement – shaping the service, positive
action, recruitment.
How will you lead Diversity and Inclusion?
“I aim to provide leadership enabling a culture which
is open, where we all strive to learn, are able to
challenge each other, but welcomes change and
understands how to accept include and value
everyone's difference”.
Together we are the best we can be and provide
the best service we can to our communities.
Date www.local.gov.uk
Discussing the Gender Pay Gap
within the Fire Service
Philip Bundy
Workforce Team, LGA
www.local.gov.uk
Gender pay gap reporting
• Applies to public sector bodies with 250 or
more employees (wide definition, contract
‘personally to do work’, includes casuals) as of
31 March
• Includes fire and rescue authorities, although
where county is the employer, fire employees
will be reported in county figures together with
all county employees
www.local.gov.uk
Gender pay gap reporting
• Work out hourly rate of pay for men and
women based on snapshot date using 31
March pay period e.g. if you pay monthly at
end of month, March pay used to calculate
hourly rate
• Prescriptive method for calculating pay and
hours
• Must report by following 30 March (so 31
March 17 figures reported by 30 March 18)www.local.gov.uk
Gender pay gap reporting
• Difference in mean hourly rate of pay
• Difference in median hourly rate of pay
• Difference in mean bonus pay
• Difference in median bonus pay
• Proportion of male and female employees paid
bonus pay
• Proportion of male and female employees per
quartile pay bandswww.local.gov.uk
Gender pay gap is not equal pay
• Equal pay: means that men and women in the
same employment performing equal work
must receive equal pay, as set out in the
Equality Act 2010.
• Gender Pay Gap: is the difference between
men’s and women’s average earnings across
an organisation or the labour market. It is
expressed as a percentage of men’s earnings.
www.local.gov.uk
So what is the gap?
• Across the whole economy:
– Mean gap -12%, median gap -17.9%
• Local government (LGA calculations)
– Mean gap -6.8%, median gap -5%
• NHS
– Mean gap -23%
www.local.gov.uk
Fire and rescue authorities
• Mean gap ranges from -25.5% to +1%
• Median gap ranges from -23.4% to -2%
• Proportionately more men in all pay quartiles
– Proportion of women in the top salary quartile
ranges from 24.6% to 2.9%
• Only small number of authorities reported
bonuses (treated CPD payments as bonuses)
www.local.gov.uk
The gender pay gap isn’t about pay
• It’s really a measure, or sign, of wider gender
inequalities in the workplace
• Fire services reported overwhelmingly that the
reason for the gap is women are
underrepresented in senior and operational
roles
Where is the problem?
Some possible solutions . . .
What’s next?
• Next round of reporting 30 March 2019 (public
sector)
• Ethnicity pay reporting – government
consultation closed in January 2019
• www.local.gov.uk/workforce for info and
support (details to follow)
QUESTIONS
https://www.local.gov.uk/gender-pay-gap
www.local.gov.uk
AFSA Asian Fire Service Association
Diane Dunlevey
AFSA National Vice Chair
Co-author Smoke and Mirrors
Equality and Diversity Manager Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service
Who are we?
• AFSA was formed in 2003 by four Asian firefighters from the London Fire
Brigade. Today AFSA represents 43 corporate members and 39/50 FRS’s
• We are an “inclusive” nationally recognised support group working to address
challenging issues around diversity and inclusion in two priority areas:
• service provision
• employment policy and practice
• The Association volunteers provide highly valued consultation services to
FRS’s, government and other stakeholders
• The Association works in partnership with a range of support groups and
national organisations
In the community:
• Promoting fire safety and encourage people to consider getting involved with the
fire and rescue service. Equally we promote job opportunities
• Raising funds for charities locally, nationally and internationally
• Break down myths that may hinder fire safety messages, and pose barriers in
recruitment, reaching in the wider community
In the workplace:
• We work in partnership with the fire and rescue sector as a critical friend in the
promotion of a culture of Inclusion, respect and diversity
• We work to break down any possible barriers for the recruitment of Asian staff
• We work to increase staff awareness on the value of inclusion and diversity in the
work place, and in service delivery, by challenging myths that may exist about
Asian people, Asian culture and Asian Faiths
• Our work includes comprehensive learning reports and
publications including:
• Faith and Community Guide Books
• Ramadan Booklet for employee, and community, engagement
• We publish, and contribute, our views on a wide range of
Government consultations
• We have recently presented Smoke and Mirrors to the Home
Office
We are a “voice” striving to make a difference on through policy and
strategy development, practice and thinking
Recognition of our good work
Smoke and MirrorsKey Findings
• That diversity is an indispensable component of effective engagement with communities that a prevent and protect strategy requires
• Considerable evidence of service’s trying their best in an environment of limited wholetime FF recruitment compounded by overall workforce numbers decreasing
• Positive progress as a correlation with progressive leadership
• Reduced support from central Government
• The workforce profile variance of BAME staff in blue light services are comparable between FRS and Policing, but a significant under-representation exist in Ambulance staff profiling
Recommendation 1
Engagement and building a compelling case for equality, diversity and inclusion - this would ensure that the FRS is conscious of the importance of inclusion, that FRSs understand and know how to build inclusion into their policies.
Recommendation 2Workforce - undertaking positive action to recruit people from underrepresented groups to enter the FRS and develop leaders from underrepresented groups in order for them to be effective in senior roles.
Recommendation 3Performance and systems alignment - ensuring equality, diversity and inclusion within the FRS is built into the architecture of the FRS regulatory and inspection regime. Ensuring evidence for success and the ability to measure performance is available.
Diversity and Inclusion in Fire and Rescue
Services
Melanie Gillett
Workforce Reform and Industrial Relations
Fire Strategy & Reform Unit
Home Office
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The genesis of reform – ‘radical and ambitious’
package of reforms announced in May 2016
Chloë Dunnett
Head, Fire Strategy and Reform Unit
• Prime Minister (as Home Secretary) outlined her vision for
fire and rescue services in May 2016, reiterated by the
then Fire Minister (Rt Hon Brandon Lewis MP) in February
2017.
• Fire Minister (Rt Hon Nick Hurd MP) committed to support
‘continuous improvement’ of services.
• High level of ambition:
• “To make fire and rescue more accountable, more
effective and more professional than ever before . .
. . building on the great strides in prevention and
collaboration that fire and rescue services have
already made”. Theresa May, 2016
Progress so far
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HMICFRS
First tranche of inspection reports published in December 2018.
Second tranche inspections happening as we speak.
All fire and rescue services will have been inspected and the reports will be published
by the end of 2019.
Fire Standards Board
Responsible for overseeing the identification, organisation, development and
maintenance of professional standards for fire and rescue services in England.
Key stakeholders including the National Fire Chiefs Council, the Home Office, the
Local Government Association and the Association of Police & Crime Commissioners.
Governance changes
Four Police, Fire and Crime Commissioners now in post.
Essex, Staffordshire, North Yorkshire and Northamptonshire.
New central website – Fire England
Created a new national website for fire and rescue in England - Fire England - with
the aim of the site being the ‘go to’ destination to access fire and rescue information.
Workforce Reform
Government activity
Published independent ‘conditions of service review for fire and rescue
staff in England’ – The Thomas Review. (Nov 2016)
A targeted national awareness campaign to enhance diversity
A toolkit to overcome the retention and recruitment issues with the
on-call workforce https://oncallfire.uk/treadmill/
Publication of report following the independent inspection into Avon Fire
and Rescue Authority – recommendations on critical improvements to:
governance; managing change; and improving culture.
Sector led improvements
NFCC five year people strategy.
Flexible working patterns.
Maximising current recruitment opportunities to enhance diversity.
Sharing of best practice.
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Why do fire and rescue services need a diverse
workforce?
Chloë Dunnett
Head, Fire Strategy and Reform Unit
“Fire and rescue services need to understand the different needs and
priorities of the communities they serve. To do this, services need
diverse workforces.
Other benefits of diverse workforces include greater innovation and
better performance. It also leads to diversity of behaviour, where
employees with different personalities and backgrounds work in
different ways. This can improve decision making and service to the
public.
Services also need diverse workforces to develop talented future
leaders and transform services into modern public-sector
organisations”
HMICFRS - DEC 2018
Diversity in fire and rescue services. Things are
changing - slowly
2017/18 Workforce Diversity Statistics
5.7 per cent (1,980) of firefighters were women in England in 2018. This
compares with 5.2 per cent in the previous year (1,832 in 2017). Since 2010 the
main cause in the increase in the proportion of female firefighters has been a
decrease in the number of male firefighters.
4.1 per cent (1,293) of firefighters were from an ethnic minority group in
England in 2018. This compares with 3.9 per cent in the previous year (1,255 in
2017). This has been caused by the number of white firefighters decreasing by a
greater rate than the number of firefighters from an ethnic minority group.
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We will be launching a National Awareness Campaign
58
Range of role models from all parts of
the community undertaking roles
across protection, prevention and
response.
Firefighter fitness booklet to guide and
advise those who may not think they
are suitable for the role of a firefighter.
Myth busting guide to dispel the myths
surrounding what the ‘average’
firefighter is or does.
What next?
Following a stakeholder event, where
we identified good practice and shared
experience, we are working on an
action plan
How can the awareness campaign
help you to continue the success?
On-Call Firefighter recruitment portal
Research commissioned on barriers to recruitment
Two options for branding produced
HO/NFCC/Hampshire FRS - on-call awareness and recruitment website
To date there have been nearly 21,000 individual page views,, and over 2,000 expressions
of interest going to recruiting fire and rescue services (1000 of those EOI were during on-
call awareness week)
60% of the individual page views were from mobile devices…….what can we learn from
this?
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What next?
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Fire Standards Board
Commitment to create a coherent and comprehensive set of professional standards.
Chair and Vice-Chair appointed and first meeting to be held on 1 February.
The Fire Standards Board may consider whether new ‘People’ standards are required.
Inspectorate
We will be considering the findings of the reports in detail before reaching any firm
conclusions, but we are very concerned that HMICFRS found that 11 of 14 services
require improvements in the way that they treat their people.
There appears to be a high level of ambition to improve culture and values, but more
needs to be done to cascade this ambition throughout the organisation. Like HMICFRS,
we welcome the work of the NFCC in driving change forward.
The government’s expectation is that, where services have performed less well that all
services will take action, with the help of the NFCC and the LGA, and to learn from one
another particularly from those who have been graded good.
The fire inspectorate together with the independent Fire Standards Board will provide the
necessary challenge in driving the workforce reform agenda forward.
The latest diversity statistics and the HMICFRS
reports show that there is more work to do, and
we stand ready to help.
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