Dignity and fairness at work policy within Scottish Government: FOI release

1. Scottish Government’s policy regarding ‘dignity/fairness’ at work within Scottish Government.

 A copy of the Scottish Government’s Fairness at Work Policy can be found below.

2. Scottish Government’s policy on ensuring that individuals on the Autistic spectrum are not discriminated when applying for posts at Scottish Government.

The Scottish Government’s recruitment processes follow the principle of selection based on merit and fair and open competition as outlined in the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles. When advertising jobs within the Scottish Government, vacancy holders have access to dedicated Resourcing Team support to ensure that all vacancies are inclusive and attractive to a diverse pool of candidates.  Through “Positive Action” we also aim to attract and support those from under-represented groups.

The Scottish Government is a Disability Confident employer and has been independently assessed at level 3 – disability confident leader.  Part of that assessment is a clear commitment to a process that supports disabled applicants to apply for and access employment opportunities in the Scottish Government. 

All job adverts reflect our commitment to embracing diversity and promoting equality of opportunity.  The Guaranteed Interview Scheme (GIS) for disabled people (including those with autism) provides disabled people with the right to proceed to the next stage of the selection process if they meet the minimum criteria.  This, in turn, provides an opportunity to demonstrate abilities at an interview.

The Scottish Government is committed to ensuring that those with a disability are not put at a disadvantage when compared to non-disabled individuals. We ensure that adjustments are implemented throughout the recruitment process and beyond to ensure that this does not happen.  Our People Advice and Wellbeing colleagues, with support from our Diversity and Inclusion team, provide help and advice about workplace adjustments and can help to arrange the implementation of all aspects of reasonable adjustments for disabled employees and those applying for a role within the Scottish Government to ensure they are not placed at a disadvantage.

The Scottish Government’s model for resourcing includes Lead Panel Members (LPM), who have a particular training on diversity and unconscious bias. A two day mandatory learning course which includes information about diveristy and inclusion unconscious bias is in place for LPMs. We now have a pool of over 100 fully trained LPMs from a variety of backgrounds, grades and locations. 

The Scottish Government also requires all other managers involved in the recruitment process to complete mandatory e-learning including:

•           Equality and Diversity Essentials which includes disability awareness; and

•           Unconscious Bias

In terms of our commitment to continuous improvement, the Scottish Government also has a new Workplace Adjustments Project underway which will refresh our approach to reasonable adjustments, using a user design approach, to ensure that we design and deliver services that empower disabled people and remove unnecessary barriers in the workplace.  This will ensure that our adjustments policy and processes are designed and influenced by the staff they impact on.  This project is being undertaken in partnership with colleagues in the trade unions and staff disability network and other specialist organisations.

3. Scottish Government’s policy on social inclusion in relation to Autistic individuals.

The Scottish Government has set out its commitment to autistic people and their families through the Scottish Strategy for Autism.  Launched in 2011, the strategy’s focus is on outcomes and is intended to ensure autistic people live healthier lives, enjoy choice and control over the services they use, and are supported to be independent and active citizens.  We have recently refreshed our priorities for the strategy’s next phase following an engagement exercise with autistic people and their families and professionals in which more than 1,200 people took part. The publication, in which we recognise the issues of social isolation for autistic people, can be accessed here: https://www.gov.scot/Resource/0053/00533392.pdf

The Scottish Government is committed to work with partners to reduce social isolation. You may be interested in the publication called ‘A connected Scotland : Tackling social isolation and loneliness and building stronger communities’: https://consult.gov.scot/equality-unit/connected-scotland/user_uploads/a-connected-scotland---tackling-social-isolation-and-loneliness-3.pdf

4. Scottish Government’s policy on plain English.

The Scottish Government does not have a policy on plain English but it is a Corporate Life Member of the Plain English Campaign (PEC) and has a number of free licences for online courses.  Scottish Government staff can also access guidance on inclusive communications on Saltire.

5. Scottish Government’s internal formal complaints procedure.

The attached Fairness at Work policy sets out the internal formal complaints procedure.

6. The ‘diversity’ training given to staff at Scottish Government in relation to Autism and mental health issues.

The Scottish Government takes a proactive approach to improving staff awareness of disability and offers a number of learning packages, accessible through Civil Service Learning. These include:

• Diversity and Equality
• Disability Awareness
• Unconscious Bias
• Mental Health Awareness

We also have a very active Disability and Mental Health networks with Champions at Senior Civil Service level.  These networks and Champions regularly engage with the Scottish Government Executive Team and Board.  They also provide information sessions, training courses and conferences for staff and provide a challenge to our boards on improving the experience for our disabled staff.

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