Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, how many officials in his Department of each (a) gender, (b) ethnicity and (c) age received the Civil Service Employment Policy Performance Management System's (i) exceeded, (ii) met and (iii) must improve performance mark in 2013-14.

In common with other Government Departments, BIS has three performance management categories, but uses the titles Category 1, Category 2, and Category 3. Category 1 encompasses our high performers, while Category 3 has been expanded, in comparison to other Departments, to place more emphasis on identifying those who have greater learning or development needs and providing them with more focused development opportunities and support, as well as including poor performers.

It was anticipated that 20 – 25% of BIS staff would fall into the third category during the 2013-14 reporting year.

The following table shows the number of males and females that were awarded each performance rating during the 2013-14 performance management year.

The following table sets out the 2013/14 performance ratings awarded to employees who have declared their ethnicity, and those who have not make a declaration against this characteristic. In order to maintain anonymity, any data for any groups in which less than 5 individuals fall under one category has been suppressed. Analysis of the 2013/14 performance management outcomes is correct for those that have made a declaration, however, diversity declarations are voluntary and are currently low within BIS. Therefore, any attempt to consider these findings as being representative for the Department, as a whole, should be viewed with caution as we are not confident that the data is an accurate reflection for all staff with protected characteristics. This is especially the case when considering ethnicity, as less than 10% of staff have a recorded ethnicity declaration.

The following table provides the performance ratings awarded to each age group during the 2013/14 performance management year. In order to maintain anonymity, any data for groups in which less than 5 individuals fall under one category has been suppressed.

The current BIS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy aims to improve performance outcomes for minority groups, with particular focus on Black and Minority Ethnic staff, disabled staff and older workers. Various methods are being used to do this, such as mandatory unconscious bias training for managers, a new Reverse Mentoring programme to expose leaders to diversity within BIS and consistency checking and validation processes across directorates for performance ratings.