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<p>Defra Group complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code and
regularly monitors EDI data, as regards all protected characteristics as defined in
the Equality Act 2010.</p><p> </p><p>This Data is captured via self-declaration via
Shared Serves Platform. This data is utilised to monitor all aspects of employee lifecycle,
including recruitment, retention, in year award / recognition, performance ratings,
L&D / Talent and promotions to ensure equal access of opportunity to all. Furthermore,
Equality impact Assessments are conducted at the point of policy creation and revision
in order to assess impact and effectiveness of internal policies and action plans
across protected characteristics.</p><p> </p><p>All monitoring data collated and analysed
by the department is shared with the trade unions representing staff covered by the
Departmental Trade Union framework (the core department and Executive Agencies), Natural
England and the Environment Agency. Workforce data is published annually via Defra
Annual Report.</p><p> </p><p>Please note, that 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management
Code (CSMC) <strong>does not</strong> place an obligation on departments to share
this information with their representative trade unions.</p><p> </p><p>We have made
good progress in recent years in diversifying the Civil Service. The percentage of
civil servants from an ethnic minority background is at 15.0% and the percentage of
those who declare themselves disabled is at 14.0%. Staff who are lesbian, gay, bisexual
or other (LGBO) is 6.1% and the proportion of female civil servants stands at 54.5%.
These rates are all at their highest recorded levels. However, we know there is still
progress to be made in ensuring we are representative of the citizens we serve across
all our grades.</p><p> </p><p>The new Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy
2022-2025 recognises our success and builds on this good work to encourage a broader
range of people into the Civil Service to give depth to our understanding of contemporary
society in the United Kingdom. It provides the necessary framing for diversity and
inclusion activity in the Civil Service as part of our wider workforce strategy, and
through that, how the Civil Service delivers for its people, the Government and our
citizens.</p><p>A link to the Civil Service statistics can be found at the following
link: <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics"
target="_blank">https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics</a></p>
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