Scottish Government Workforce Information 2015

5. Diversity of directly employed staff

5.1 Chart 4 and Tables 4 to 10 present diversity data for directly employed staff. The Scottish Government collects information on the diversity of its directly employed staff. Age/date of birth and gender are required to be collected for legislative purposes for use by the Scottish Government's payroll system and HM Revenue and Customs, and also for baseline security clearance. Information on other protected characteristics of staff is used for diversity monitoring, and is voluntarily provided by staff: either via diversity monitoring forms on recruitment, or by using a self-service section on the HR system. Note that for some protected characteristics, there are a number of staff that haven't provided diversity information. Therefore we are cautious when interpreting the trends and current mix of the characteristics of Scottish Government staff. The Scottish Government is committed to improving the monitoring of the diversity of its staff whilst noting that it is provided voluntarily.

5.2 The Scottish Government's 2015 Equality Outcomes and Mainstreaming Report contains further information on diversity within the Scottish Government. Note that the report includes staff in Scottish Government agencies, non-ministerial departments or non-departmental public bodies, so the numbers will differ to those in this publication which only cover the core Scottish Government.

5.3 The Scottish Government collects diversity data set out in the 2010 Equality Act. These include age, disability, ethnicity, gender, marital status, religion or belief, and sexual orientation. The two other protected characteristics are gender reassignment and pregnancy/maternity. The Scottish Government collects no information on gender reassignment. This is something that is currently being considered in conjunction with transgender organisations. Administrative information is collected on the protected characteristic of maternity and pregnancy for payroll purposes, when staff go on maternity leave. Information on the FTE number and headcount of staff on paid maternity or adoption leave are presented in Table 1 and Annex table C1.

5.4 Diversity information on non-directly employed staff is not collected and held by the Scottish Government, although personal details will be collected by the employers of these workers such as the employment agencies.

Chart 4 Diversity of directly employed staff at the end of December 2015

Age

5.5 The Scottish Government collects the date of birth of its staff when they are recruited, as it is needed for legislative purposes for use by HM Revenue and Customs, and also for baseline security clearance. Therefore the Scottish Government has age data for all its directly employed staff. Table 4 shows the headcounts and percentages of staff in each age group at the end of every quarter from 2012 to 2015. Chart 4 A shows the percentages of staff in each age group at the end of December 2015.

5.6 There have been small changes in the percentages of staff within each age group over the four years presented (Table 4). There is some suggestion of an ageing profile of the workforce, with a fall of 2.4 percentage points in those aged 40-49, and a rise of 1.8 percentage points in those aged 50-59 age group.

5.7 The number of staff in the 16-19 age group increased significantly from a low baseline in the four years presented, from 13 at the end of March 2012, which increased to 68 by the end of December 2015. The increase in the headcount of 16-19 age group is mostly due to the recruitment of modern apprentices (see Table 1 and section 3.6).

Disability status

5.8 The disability status of Scottish Government staff is provided voluntarily via diversity monitoring forms during recruitment, or by using a self-service section on the HR system. Table 5 shows the headcounts and percentages of staff in each disability status at the end of every quarter from 2012 to 2015. Chart 4 B shows the percentages of staff in each disability status at the end of December 2015. Note that we are applying the social model of disability when referring to disabled staff, people or communities.

5.9 Note that a significant proportion of staff haven't given their disability information, and indeed the percentage of staff in the Unknown category has been increasing through time. The Unknown category has increased by 7 percentage points from 31.4 per cent at the end of March 2012 to 38.4 per cent at the end of December 2015 (Table 5). The Not Disabled group has seen a corresponding decrease of 8.2 percentage points in the same period, from 63.9 to 55.7 per cent, which is unlikely to reflect a real fall in the percentage of non-disabled staff. These changes are likely to be due to an error in the way in which categories were updated at a system level in 2012, and caution should be used when interpreting the results.

5.10 Despite the increase in the number of staff with an unknown disability status, the percentage of staff that have reported themselves as being disabled has increased over the past four years. The percentage increased by 0.9 percentage points from 4.2 per cent at the end of March 2012 to 5.1 per cent at the end of December 2015 (Table 5).

Ethnicity

5.11 The ethnicity of Scottish Government staff is provided voluntarily via diversity monitoring forms during recruitment, or by using a self-service section on the HR system. Staff can currently select ethnic groups that broadly match the categories on the 2011 Scottish Census. There are also staff on the system that provided their ethnicity before these new groups were introduced, although these are similar to the new groupings. However, to avoid disclosure of individuals, ethnic groups have been grouped into two main categories in this publication: ethnic minority and white. Table 6 shows the headcounts and percentages of staff in each ethnic group at the end of every quarter from 2012 to 2015. Chart 4 C shows the percentages of staff in each ethnic group at the end of the December 2015.

5.12 The percentage of staff in the ethnic minority and white groups both appear to have increased slightly between 2012 and 2015. The percentage of staff in an ethnic minority increased by 0.3 percentage points, from 1.3 per cent at the end of March 2012 to 1.6 per cent at the end of December 2015, and the percentage of white staff increased by 1.5 percentage points from 79.8 per cent to 81.3 per cent in the same period. The increase in both groups is because more staff have provided their ethnicity status, as the percentage of staff in the Unknown group has decreased by 1.9 percentage points from 17.4 per cent at the cent at the end of March 2012 to 15.5 per cent at the end of December 2015 (Table 6).

Gender

5.13 The Scottish Government collects the gender of its staff when they are recruited as it is needed for legislative purposes for use by HM Revenue and Customs, and also for baseline security clearance. Therefore the Scottish Government has gender data for 100% of its directly employed staff. The Scottish Government is looking to provide non-binary gender options on the HR system, such as intersex, as male and female are currently the only available options. Table 7 shows the headcounts and percentages of staff of each gender at the end of every quarter from 2012 to 2015. Chart 4 D shows the percentages of staff in each age group at the end of December 2015.

5.14 The percentage of males to females in the Scottish Government have been similar to each other over the past four years (Table 7). However, there has been a slight increase in the percentage of females by 1.3 percentage points, from 49.3 per cent at the end of March 2012 to 50.6 per cent at the end of December 2015. The figure of 50.6 per cent females at the end of December 2015 (Chart 4 D) compares to the National Records of Scotland's Mid-2014 Population Estimates that showed 49.6 per cent of the Scottish working age population were female.

Marital/civil partnership status

5.15 The marital/civil partnership status of Scottish Government staff is provided voluntarily by staff by a self-service section on the HR system. Staff can select one of ten different options for their marital/civil partnership status. Table 8 shows the headcounts and percentages of staff in each martial/civil partnership status at the end of every quarter from 2012 to 2015. To avoid possible disclosure of individuals, some statuses are grouped together. Chart 4 E shows the percentages of staff in each marital/civil partnership status at the end of December 2015.

5.16 The marital/civil partnership status of a significant (and rising) proportion of Scottish Government directly employed staff is unknown. Therefore we are cautious about providing interpretations of the level and trends in this characteristic. The percentage of those that are married/in a civil partnership or single appear to have decreased between 2012 and 2015. However, this does not necessarily reflect a real decrease, as the percentage of staff in the unknown group has increased by 7.8 percentage points in the same period.

Religion or belief

5.17 The religion or belief of Scottish Government staff is provided voluntarily via diversity monitoring forms during recruitment, or by using a self-service section on the HR system. Staff can currently give a religion or belief that matches the categories on the 2011 Scottish Census. Table 9 and Chart 4 F show the headcounts and percentages of staff in each religion or belief at the end of December 2015. The collection of data on this characteristic was started later than the other characteristics, and initially the numbers were low after it was introduced, so it wasn't included in regular snapshots of the data until the end of December 2015. To avoid disclosure of individuals, some religions or beliefs have been grouped together.

5.18 A large percentage of staff haven't provided their religion or belief (47.1 per cent of staff at the end of December 2015). Therefore we are cautious about providing interpretations of the level and trends in this characteristic.

Sexual orientation

5.19 The sexual orientation of Scottish Government staff is provided voluntarily via diversity monitoring forms during recruitment, or by using a self-service section on the HR system. Table 10 shows the headcounts and percentages of staff in each religion or belief at the end of March and December in 2015. Like religion or belief, the collection of sexual orientation data was started later than other characteristics, so it wasn't included in regular snapshots of the data as numbers were low initially. Chart 4 G shows the sexual orientation of staff at the end of December 2015.

5.20 A large percentage of staff haven't provided their sexual orientation (46.2 per cent at the end of December 2015, Table 10 and Chart 4 G). Therefore we are cautious about providing interpretations of the level and trends in this characteristic.