Sectarianism distorting NHS Scotland's workforce ?

For some centuries now, being a Catholic in Scotland has not been a passport to an easy life and it has certainly not been an identity which automatically opens the armoured glass doors to employment and career development.

Just over the water, in Northern Ireland, the reality of sectarianism and discrimination has been openly acknowledged and direct action taken over the last decade has seen employment equality between Protestants and Catholics change from, in 2001, an employment rate gap of 19% in favour of Protestants to, in 2010, a gap of just over 8%.  The Equality Commission for Northern Ireland [ECNI] publishes an annual report which is based on survey returns required from all employers [private and public sector] with over 11 employees and which identify the community background of employees as well as their gender.  This enables the ECNI to properly monitor the national workforce profile and check that progress is being made to deliver real, measurable equality in employment for Catholics in Northern Ireland.  Where necessary, ECNI can and does take action.  

A simple, but powerfully effective tool which is delivering results.  Given this, it has to be asked : why does Scotland not do something similar ?  

Part of the answer has to be that Scotland doesn't like to admit that sectarianism is something which exists beyond the confines of certain football club supporters.  The implication being that as long as it is the rough, coarse working classes who maim and kill one another in the name of the Pope or King Billy, then Scotland's middle-class can sustain the charade that Scotland is a 'tolerant' country.  Another increasingly obvious reason is that Scotland's politicians and political apparatchiks don't want to know what the data on equality would tell them, whether it be about sectarianism and discrimination against Catholics, or the lack of BME people in jobs which help maintain the shape of Scotland's public services as something fit for 'people like us'. 

Scotland the White

If they don't know about the extent of racism, disablism, homophobia or the rest, they don't have to do anything beyond tokenistic hand-wringing over the more overt manifestations of discrimination.  Then the reaction is to, literally in the case of Visit Scotland in 2008, air-brush into the official documents on Scottish society a Disney-esque portrayal of shortbread-tin life in the kailyards of Brigadoon.

Scotland's new specific equality duties can help us bring an end to this self-delusion and replace it with hard evidence of how the workplace looks, without the aid of an air-brush or selective memory.

In April 2013, most of Scotland's major public bodies were required publish workforce data, profiling it by protected characteristic, including religion and belief, learning from what the data told them and then acting on it to show that they were eliminating discrimination.

Scotland the air-brushed

Recent research into what the NHS has achieved with this area of the specific equality duties suggests sectarianism and discrimination in relation  to Catholics is a reality which no amount of air-brushing or data-massaging will remove.


 We know that 19 of Scotland's 22 NHS Boards published profiling reports.  The other 3 either blissfully ignorant or simply ignoring the law.  No doubt the EHRC will be on their case.  It would be helpful if the Cabinet Secretary for Health was also to prod the 3 chief executives with a sharp performance-related-pay stick.

From the reports which were published, we know that the NHS in Scotland employs 158,326 workers.  We also know that 12,079 of them identify themselves as Catholic - just 7.63% of the workforce.  That is quite a way short of the Bishops' Conference of Scotland estimate for the Scottish Catholic population being 12.9%.

On the basis of these figures, there appears to be something like 8,345+ Catholic people missing from the payroll of Scotland's NHS.  

When performance on religious equality reveals that a town the size of Peebles would be needed to accommodate  all the Catholic people missing from the payroll of the NHS in Scotland, it is possible to conclude that sectarianism and institutional discrimination on the grounds of being a Catholic retains deep roots within the culture and practices of the NHS.

Given Visit Scotland's form in the recent past, it is worth looking at their workforce profiling report.  In this you will read that out of 763 Visit Scotland workers, just 1 identifies as Catholic.

Wedding Bells, a marriage certificate, but few P60s - is this equality ?

Scottish government has been devoting much precious legislative process and time to redressing the inequalities inherent in lesbian, gay and bi-sexual [LGB] people being able to get married in Scotland.  The wider discourse on same-sex marriage has uncovered evidence that prejudice, bigotry and homophobia in Scotland are rarely far below the scratched surface of many people's comfort zones.  To their credit, government has not allowed the opposition to same-sex marriage to deflect them from the goal of remedying an institutional inequality.

With same-sex marriage the contemporary backdrop to LGB equality in Scotland, one would have imagined a positive knock-on effect in other areas of LGB discrimination, such as in improving the employment levels of LGB people within Scotland's public sector.  Curiously and regrettably, given government's control over the public sector, the benefits remain limited to the prospects of wedding bells and have yet to witness marked improvements in the employment prospects of LGB people securing P60's within the public sector.

Recent research has looked at how the NHS in Scotland is performing in meeting the specific equality duty which requires them to profile their workforce by protected characteristic, analyse what this tells them, and then act on this so that they can better deliver employment equality - for all protected characteristics, including LGB people.  

We know that 19 of Scotland's 22 NHS Boards published profiling reports.  The other 3 either blissfully ignorant or simply ignoring the law.  No doubt the EHRC will be on their case.  It would be helpful if the Cabinet Secretary for Health was also to prod 3 chief executives with a sharp performance-related-pay stick.

From the reports which were published, we know that the NHS in Scotland employs 158,326 workers.  We also know that 1,502 of them identify themselves as LGB - just 0.95% of the workforce.  That is quite a way short of the UK government's estimate for the LGB population.  

On the basis of these figures, there appears to be something like 7,998+ LGB people missing from the payroll of Scotland's NHS.  

When performance on LGB equality reveals that a town the size of Oban would be needed to accommodate  all the LGB people missing from the payroll of the NHS in Scotland, it is possible to conclude that institutional discrimination in the NHS on the grounds of being LGB contributes significantly to the scale of those estimated to be missing.

BME people, work and the NHS in Scotland - thousands missing from the payroll

The Equality & Human Rights Commission [EHRC] estimates that the average rate of employment for BME people across the public sector is 8%.

Scotland's NHS Boards recently published workforce profiling reports.  These are required in order to meet new specific equality duties, with the aim being that the Boards learn from analysing the data they gather and work out how to eliminate discrimination and improve employment chances for people who are recognised as being discriminated against - disabled people, black minority ethnic [BME] people, lesbian, gay & bisexual [LGB] people, and a number of other groups of people sharing what the law describes as 'protected characteristics'.

Research shows that 19 of Scotland's 22 NHS Boards published profiling reports.  The other 3 apparently decided to ignore the law.  No doubt the EHRC will be on their case.

From the reports which were published, we know that the NHS in Scotland employs 158,326 workers.  We also know that 4,164 of them identify themselves as BME - just 2.63% of the workforce.  Over 5% short of the average public sector employment rate for BME people.  

On the basis of these figures, there appears to be something like 8,500+ BME people missing from the payroll of Scotland's NHS.  

When an analysis of performance on race equality reveals that a town the size of Haddington would be needed to house all the BME people missing from the payroll of the NHS in Scotland, it is possible to conclude that institutional discrimination in the NHS on the grounds of race contributes significantly to the scale of those estimated to be missing.

Disability Equality is not working in the NHS

One of the clear measures of equality is to be found in the profile, by protected characteristic, of those in employment.

Being in employment can bring multiple, potentially positive, impacts on the lived experiences of many people who share particular protected characteristics.  It can reduce dependence on the less than generous state welfare system and the increasing stigma attached to what little support is provided to people who are jobless for whatever reason.  It provides the opportunities for those previously excluded from key areas of society to be able to influence change and the future shape of societal structures from within.  Being in work instead of being marginalised, excluded and discriminated against can also help start to slowly foster good relations between those who erect barriers and discriminate, and those who are discriminated against.

Scotland’s specific equality duties, adopted in May 2012, recognised this and set a clear goal for public bodies in Scotland.  Amongst other things, the duties required that public bodies gather data on their workforce by protected characteristic and use it to help them better perform their general equality duty to eliminate discrimination, advance equality of opportunity, and foster good relations.  April 30^th 2013 was the first date by which public bodies were required to publish a report on their efforts in meeting this particular part of the specific equality duties.

A recent research report into what workforce data has been published by the NHS in Scotland on disabled people shows that if the UK average of 13.1% of people in work being disabled were achieved by all Scotland's 22 NHS Boards, this would find 19,376 more disabled people working in the NHS.  This is roughly equivalent to the population of Bathgate and provides a graphic illustration of the number of disabled people missing from the payroll of the NHS.

Lies, damned lies and the EHRC in Scotland

there are moments when even
a high-decibel use of 'WTF',
with full stops between each
word, is simply inadequate

Sometime the ever helpful safety-valve expletive 'WTF' helps when you read such as the latest exploits or murmurings of the hapless Jeremy Hunt, Health Secretary in England, or stub your toe as you stumble and fumble in the dark towards the bathroom at some unearthly hour in the morning.  And then there are moments when even a high-decibel use of 'WTF', with full stops between each word, is simply inadequate.  This is about one such moment.

Yesterday, the EHRC in Scotland published a report and press release on just how well/badly public bodies in Scotland were doing in meeting new specific equality duties which came into effect in 2012 and required a slew of reports from them to be published by end of April this year.  I have already published research into the performance of the major public bodies in publishing data on their gender pay gaps, and shared it free of charge with the EHRC.  The EHRC press release tells us :

"The Scottish Government introduced these powerful equality duties in 2012 to ensure that public authorities tackle the most pressing inequalities"

And I had always thought the specific duties were introduced to help public bodies meet the general equality duty, which has eliminating discrimination, advancing equality of opportunity and fostering good relations at its core.  See for yourself here on the EHRC web site.  But no, in Scotland the EHRC has decided that is clearly too hard, to challenging, too difficult an objective for public bodies and now they just need to "tackle the most pressing inequalities".  Might be worth checking with the Scottish Parliament's Equal Opportunities Committee [SP EOC] if they are aware of the downgraded equality goals set by the EHRC in Scotland?

the EHRC press release
describes the specific equality
duties as "powerful"

But that isn't the toe stubbing, 'WTF', moment.  It is when the EHRC press release describes the specific equality duties as "powerful".  

Way back in 2011, the Scottish government invited the SP EOC to rubber stamp draft specific equality duties for Scotland.  These had been the subject of a marathon consultation and then an analysis report which conveniently ignored that the majority of respondents who were not public bodies opposed what was on the table.  At the eleventh-hour, some of us decided the stakes were too high and lobbied the SP EOC to seek amendments to the draft and strengthen the duties so that discrimination was eliminated in the years to come.  We were asked to provide evidence at a session of the SP EOC on 8th March 2011 when the minister would also formally move a motion for the Committee to adopt his draft.  You can read here all that was said at the meeting and how the Committee decided to throw out the draft specific duties and invite government to improve on them and on its consultation process and practice.

The day before, the EHRC Scotland Director, Ros Micklem, wrote to the SP EOC.  This letter set out the EHRC's position on the then draft duties and was a heavy handed attempt to bounce the Committee into approving the draft duties:

"We are supportive of the duties as currently framed, being both robust enough for regulation purposes but without being overly prescriptive"

The EHRC went on to point out that any decision to delay the adoption of the specific duties would not :

"be in the best interests of the Scottish people"

So.  The EHRC reckoned then that the draft duties were robust enough and that delaying them would not be in the interests of the Scottish people.

Now?  The interests of the
Scottish people don't rate a mention by the EHRC

Now?  The interests of the Scottish people don't rate a mention by the EHRC, the duties which the EHRC in effect opposed are now "powerful", and the goal posts are unilaterally moved by the EHRC from eliminating discrimination to "tackling the most pressing inequalities".  Joe Stalin would have applauded this capacity for re-writing history and air-brushing inconvenient realities and truths out of the picture.

Angels of equality in Scotland have fallen far and fast from grace

Summer starts next week.  The year is almost half-way through.  Equality has taken another hammering as we move into the third year of coalition government at Westminster.

People for whom equality law is supposed to offer a bulwark against discrimination, a crowbar with which to lever open some equality in opportunity, are being battered by the ideological drive to cut public spending, and the protections supposed to be on offer in the shape of the Equality Act 2010 and the Equality & Human Rights Commission [EHRC] are as effective as food labelling promising minced beef content.

In April this year, research found that there is overwhelming evidence, submitted directly by public bodies themselves, that the legislative framework on equalities is being routinely ignored.  The research into how public sector budgets checked that budgets did not embed discrimination found that the default cultural mind set in the public sector is that there is no real depth or extent to discrimination within the sector.  The discourse within budget EQIAs is not on ‘cuts’, but almost always on ‘savings’.  The narrative within EQIAs rarely references discrimination, as if by airbrushing the word out of the public sector lexicon it can in some parody of ‘Animal Farm’ demonstrate that all are already equal and indeed that some are more equal than others.

The reaction of the EHRC in Scotland to this ?  Zilch.  Nothing.  No high profile court cases started.  No press release advising Scotland's communities that the EHRC was vigilant in ensuring their protection was 24/7 and that any failure on the part of anyone to meet the equality law would find the EHRC's tanks on their lawn.

OK, maybe that was just too hard for them to grapple with.  What about equal pay ?

Good PR for the EHRC.  Makes them
look as if they are on the equality case
and on the side of the angels.

On the legal duty to publish gender pay gaps by end April this year, research found that quite a few public bodies had failed to meet their duty.  Straightforward.  Easy peasy.  EHRC in Scotland could fire off a warning letter and invite each public body to explain the absence of a report on the gender pay gap.  Good PR for the EHRC.  Makes them look as if they are on the equality case and on the side of the angels.  So what did they do?  Nothing.  Nada,  Zilch.  They won't move until they pay out £thousands to a researcher to tell them what research already carried out, at no cost to them, tells them.  

OK.  Let's set aside the inaction on enforcing compliance with the gender pay gap regulations.  

What about the bedroom tax, which is causing massive dislocation and disruption for people and their communities?  Surely the EHRC in Scotland would want to take a high-profile, robust, derring-do stance in protecting disabled people from the disproportionate adverse impact on them of the bedroom tax?  A few unambiguous statements to the press, comprehensive and clear guidance to landlords and councils, a ray of hope offered to disabled people in Scotland that they are not to be left to fight this attack on their own?  Nothing.  While Cosla makes with the weasel words on how they can't disobey the law and have to collect the rents owed, the EHRC in Scotland has nothing public to say on this mean-spirited measure.

The workfare programmes invented by Ian Duncan Smith that gets people stacking shelves in Poundland in fear of their Jobseekers Allowance being sanctioned?  Where was the EHRC in defending the backs of people against government in this 21st century form of degrading slavery?  Probably shopping in Poundland for its 99p-for-three pack of throwaway principles.

The EHRC in Scotland is clearly not able to
give people in Scotland's equality communities
the protection they deserve.  The angels of
equality have fallen far and fast from grace.

In the last few weeks the replacement of Disability Living Allowance with Personal Independence Payment has arrived, Ian Duncan Smith's latest money-saving wheeze.  What succour has the EHRC in Scotland offered disabled people, what robust denunciation has been made of Smith's continued stigmatising of disabled people?  Follow this link to read for yourself just how often the EHRC in Scotland has stood tall this year so far on these and other issues, and commanded the attention of the media as it explained just how it would protect people from the prejudice and bigotry of their own government.  The EHRC in Scotland is clearly not able to give people in Scotland's equality communities the protection they deserve.  The angels of equality have fallen far and fast from grace.

Scotland's public sector - Gender Pay Gaps of up to 30% and no plans to close the gaps

Recent research into compliance with the Scottish specific equality duties on reporting gender pay gaps found that out of the 58 public bodies reporting gender pay gaps of over +or- 5%, just 4 offered a coherent plan for closing the pay gaps.  

The vast bulk [93%] of bodies in Scotland offered nothing in their reports which suggested they had any clear or coherent plan for reducing those gender pay gaps, all of which are in excess of +or-5% and some even reaching 30%.

One might conclude from this that the specific duty to publish gender pay data was not explicit enough in requiring bodies to act on what an analysis of the gap told them, with a view to closing the gaps.  Or one could conclude that it was deliberate and wilful inaction on the part of 58 public bodies and that they will go on doing nothing to close the gaps until government tells them otherwise.

The solution is simple.  Tighten up any loopholes uncovered by research such as this and revise the regulations so that even numpties in public bodies can understand.

Another common feature in the gender pay gap reports which have been published is the tendency to conclude that where a grade by grade analysis shows no major [i.e. +or-5%] gaps in the average pay of women and men on those grades, and when the pay gap for the whole workforce comes in at more than 5%, then that is not a problem because, some reports suggest, women choose to work part-time and/or women tend to be in the lower paid grades, or even choose to take the low paid jobs.  

The understanding by the public sector of occupational segregation, the roots this has in structural and institutional gender discrimination, and the consequences for the pay packets of women workers, is seriously compromised by the inability of the public sector to recognise discrimination in all its forms.  

If it is not that the intellectual capacity of public sector professionals has been compromised, then the only other reasonable option is that there exists in Scotland a stubborn, neanderthal cohort of senior professionals - including women - who believe that gender pay inequality is just not an issue.