The Learning and Skills Councils Annual Report and Accounts for ...

We have had in place a comprehensive
approach to equality impact
assessment, completing initial
screenings of over 100 business
policies, including HR policies. We have
published full assessments on several
of our key programme policy areas.
The LSC workforce
As part of the Single Equality
Scheme, we set ourselves a number
of workforce equality goals which
have aimed to make our workforce
more representative. We have made
substantial progress, particularly in the
proportional representation of women
in senior roles (bands 4 and 5) –
49 per cent – and in the proportion
of staff from black and minority ethnic
backgrounds (bands 3, 4, and 5) –
10 per cent.
Following our recent impact
assessment of the Machinery of
Government transition process, we
have confirmed that the proportions
of these employees moving to the new
organisations are comparable with
those in the LSC workforce.
The LSC’s approach and success were
acknowledged in an article produced
by the Equal Opportunities Review
which highlighted the following.
•
The independent evaluation of
our Single Equality Scheme has
shown that the LSC has been at the
forefront of equality and diversity
practice.
•
Key factors that have contributed
to its success are strong leadership,
an active Equality and Diversity
Committee, visible champions,
an effective equality impact
assessment framework and
comprehensive monitoring systems.
Areas of weakness identified in the
independent evaluation have been
addressed by the LSC.
The LSC sought to identify best
practice and address possible areas of
concern, to act as a role model for the
sector and to ensure that best practice
would be embedded into the new
organisations from April 2010.
The LSC’s performance on workforce
equality has also been recognised by
a number of external benchmarks.
The LSC was named as one of the
10 most-improved public sector
organisations against the Race Equality
Standard, achieving the Gold Award.
The LSC has also achieved the Silver
Award against the Disability Standard
and Opportunity Now benchmarks.
We were commended for our cohesive
approach to diversity management.
As part of our proactive support for
our employees, particularly during this
year of transition, we have put in place
several programmes such as health
and well-being, a Respect toolkit, and
an employee development programme
which attracted over 1,000 employees.
Our commitment to the Mindful
Employer Charter has been reviewed
and our progress towards the objectives
set has shown that we moved from
commitment in some parts of the
organisation to commitment in most
parts of the organisation.
Environmental,
social and
community issues
The ‘Doing Our Bit’ initiative
continued to highlight the importance
of reducing waste, improving use
of resources, supporting local
communities and ensuring that there
is sustainable development across
all LSC activity. In March 2010, Case
Studies of Action to Support Sustainable
Development from Around the LSC
was published to illustrate progress by
highlighting some of the actions and
projects from across the organisation
(readingroom.lsc.gov.uk/lsc/National/
Doing_Our_Bit_32pp.pdf).
The LSC has played a significant and
important role in the development of
the learning and skills of the nation.
Note 3a to the accounts on page 55
shows the range of programmes that
were funded in 2009–10.
LSC staff and their friends and
families routinely took part in many
charitable fund-raising events and
were duly celebrated in in-house
communications.
14 LSC Annual Report and Accounts 2009–10