Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 12 July 2023
98. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform the current status of Action 2.1 of the National LGBTI Inclusion Strategy (for which his Department is responsible), to implement LGBTI+ inclusive recruitment practices across the public sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34695/23]
View answerAs the Deputy is aware, my Department has policy responsibility for recruitment to the civil service. As reflected in the Civil Service Renewal 2024 Strategy, the civil service is strongly committed to equality of opportunity for all in terms of its recruitment and employment practices, and building a more diverse and inclusive workforce that is reflective of Ireland and the people it serves.
The Public Appointments Service (PAS), which is a body under the aegis of my Department, is the primary recruiter for the civil service and some parts of the public service. PAS are committed to recruiting a diverse workforce with the skills and attributes to meet the future challenges of the public service. Three key areas of focus include:
• better knowledge and understanding of who works in our civil service,
• creating more inclusive and equitable processes for all candidates, and
• leading by example in creating and encouraging their clients to foster more inclusive work places.
Several pieces of work are underway that will support underrepresented groups in general to access opportunities in the civil and public sector. A key priority is to develop a data driven, evidence-based diversity profile of candidates throughout the recruitment process. To achieve this priority PAS commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to review their equality data. As part of the project, the ESRI assessed the robustness of their equality data by conducting a ‘health check’ and analysed data relating to over 1,000 competitions across the civil and public service (over 2019-2021). A deep dive was also undertaken in relation to ethnicity, gender, and disability. PAS are now working to publish equality data reports on a regular basis in order to better understand the makeup of the workforce.
Workforce equality data provides powerful insights into the composition of a workforce. This type of data will enable organisations to identify and address inequality of access, discrimination and under representation. This year’s Civil Service Engagement Survey, issued by my Department, will ask, for the first time, equality monitoring questions including membership of LGBTQ+ community, to further enhance our understanding of diversity in the civil service.
The PAS Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) participated in Pride@Workconference on 23 May, part of this year’s Dublin Pride, on a panel entitled “The Data Don’t Lie,” which discussed the importance of equality monitoring data to drive diversity and inclusion for LGBTQ+ colleagues. PAS staff also hosted a stall during the conference to promote careers in the civil service for the LGBTQ+ community. The Civil Service offers support to all of its employees to engage and participate in LGBTQ+ events representing their respective organisations.
An ED&I diagnostic review of PAS’ internal and external recruitment operations took place in 2022 and recommendations to drive inclusion from that review are currently being implemented.
PAS have also developed a School Resource Kit to bring careers in the civil and public sector to life for young people from all backgrounds and in this resource kit PAS profile people from all backgrounds including members of the LGBT+ community.
Furthermore, OneLearning, the Civil Service Learning and Development Shared Service Centre based within my Department, provides staff with the opportunity to undertake a self-guided eLearning module developed by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) on Equality and Human Rights in the Public Service. This eLearning module has been developed to support and enable staff to understand and meet their obligations under the Public Sector Equality and Human Rights Duty (Public Sector Duty) within public bodies and to support the goal to develop more diverse and inclusive workplaces. Since its inception this eLearning programme has been completed by 2,060 staff, with a further 404 going through it at the moment. A further instructor-led module entitled "Equality and Human Rights: Understanding Your Role (Level 1)" was launched in January 2023 and has been completed by 180 staff.
