Digital Directorate Diversity Statement 2018

Driving an accessible and inclusive Digital Scotland

Our work to deliver a digital future for Scotland must truly reflect the diversity of people living in our communities. Meeting their needs is core to our mission and without a diverse workforce, we will struggle to do that.

Put simply – unless we take action to increase the diversity of our workforce, we will struggle to ensure that we are driving an inclusive and accessible Digital Scotland which benefits everyone fairly. Diversity in our workforce is key to ensuring that inclusion and accessibility are at the forefront of the work we do.

Which is why recruiting, supporting and retaining a diverse workforce that reflects the population of Scotland is so important to us.

Building a diverse, inclusive and accessible culture

Everyone working in the Directorate is encouraged to speak openly about their work, recognise the challenges, celebrate the successes, collaborate with others and share their ideas and their talents for maximum benefit. Our Director, Colin Cook, is committed to building the reputation of Digital Directorate as a great place to work where individuals can be themselves and feel safe in being

We know an open and collaborative culture is not enough, so we are also working hard to ensure that our culture supports people from diverse backgrounds and with diverse needs. We are continually improving the accessibility and inclusivity of our working practices, behaviours, tools and environments. Having a diverse workforce that reflects the society we serve will help us on this journey.

Our current diversity profile

We have been successful in attracting talent and the public sector is striving to be more widely viewed as a desirable place to work due to the level of ambition and opportunity to improve outcomes for people who rely on essential services.

However, more needs to be done and our diversity data illustrates how the Digital Directorate is working towards being representative of the wider Scottish population.

We have fewer women compared to the Scottish Government:

• Digital Directorate: 38%

• Scottish Government: 51%

• Scottish Population: 51%

Majority of staff are age 30 to 49:

• Digital Directorate: 57%

• Scottish Government: 53%

• Scottish Population: 40%

We have more ethnic minority staff compared to the Scottish Government:

• Digital Directorate: 2.7%

• Scottish Government: 2%

• Scottish Population: 4%

Staff declared as LGBO (lesbian, gay, bisexual, other) is comparable with the Scottish Government:

• Digital Directorate: 4.3%

• Scottish Government: 5%

• Scottish Population: 2%

Staff declared as disabled is comparable with the Scottish Government:

• Digital Directorate: 11.3%

• Scottish Government: 11%

• Scottish Population: 19%

Around half of staff have declared no religion:

• Digital Directorate: 46%

• Scottish Government: 53%

• Scottish Population: 51%

What we are doing to improve our diversity

Scottish Government has signed the Tech Talent Charter which is a public commitment to increasing the diversity of our digital workforce so that it is more reflective of the wider Scottish population. As a direct response the Digital Directorate is leading efforts to design new approaches to attract people to work in digital jobs, adopting inclusive recruitment and retention policies and working with other signatories to address the gender imbalance in digital roles across all sectors of the economy.

The aims of the Tech Talent Charter align closely with actions in our digital strategy, Realising Scotland's Full Potential in a Digital World. The strategy highlights the importance of greater diversity with key actions to remove the barriers to under-represented groups progressing into and within our digital profession and to promote digital role models from diverse backgrounds.

Our senior managers promote an inclusive culture that values diversity in our teams and across our locations. Senior leaders in SG from our Permanent Secretary down are diversity and inclusion champions across the organisation. Digital Directorate also has a number of colleagues acting as role models who raise awareness of diversity through their active involvement in SG networks focused on issues that affect women, minority ethnic and disabled colleagues in particular.

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