Bill Jeffrey
Not long ago The National Archives unearthed a rather unusual file. The so-called "disappointed fiancees" file was full of letters from female civil servants, who many decades ago had resigned so they could get married, only to then find themselves left at the altar.
Keep delving through those archives and you may even come across a report from 1946 looking at the effectiveness of married women in the workplace. It is no surprise it found that their usefulness had "in no way been impaired by marriage." What these documents show is how different things used to be: although it was only in 1972 that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office lifted its rule that married women had to resign from the service! But, look at today's civil service and the figures tell a very different story.
The civil service has been transformed into a modern and diverse employer. More than half of all civil servants are now women. The latest figures published this week show the proportion of women at senior levels has almost doubled since 1996 – hitting 34%. While many private sector companies are still struggling to boost the numbers of women on their boards, a quarter of our top management positions are held by female staff. Compare this to FTSE 100 companies, where just 11.7% of directorships are held by women. What is more, on current trends, by 2020 the most senior levels of the civil service will be majority female.
This isn't the only way the civil service has set itself apart from other employers. The proportion of staff from a black and minority ethnic background continues to increase. Today they represent one in 12 of our staff and over the last 10 years the proportion of disabled people in the civil service has doubled.
But, we are not complacent and we have no intention of stopping here. The economic downturn has shown that in difficult times our work to deliver important public services to all parts of society is more critical than ever. To make sure we're doing this to the very best of our abilities, the civil service needs a diverse workforce that fully reflects our increasingly diverse society. Not least, because the innovation in thinking and delivery that diversity brings us will enable us to do more with less.
That is why I and a number of my permanent secretary colleagues have formed a Diversity Delivery Board so we can make sure improving diversity is a priority for all department leaders. The Promoting Equality and Diversity strategy, which was launched in 2008, sets out the civil service commitment to diversity and to meeting challenging targets. We have also put in place schemes to try to encourage people from a wide range of backgrounds to join the civil service and to develop the potential of existing staff. Every year we run annual summer internships for black minority ethnic and disabled graduates and our Leaders UnLtd scheme, which is aimed at women staff from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and those with a disability, provides the necessary skills to help talented staff move up to senior levels.
The future is also looking promising. The diversity of our graduate fast stream programme continues to improve. Last year 48% of successful applicants were women and since 1998 the number of applicants from an ethnic minority background has trebled.
But, there is of course a story beyond the figures and that is what tonight's civil service equality and diversity awards are all about. The awards will honour all those dedicated civil servants who do amazing work in communities across Britain and overseas. The work they do ranges from a groundbreaking initiative to increase prosecutions of crimes against women; a hostel project to help the homeless back into work and improving access at a local railway station for older people, disabled people and parents with pushchairs. These examples show that every day civil servants up and down the country are making a real difference to people's lives, including to some of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable in our society.
Bill Jeffrey has been civil service diversity champion since 2005 and is permanent secretary at the Ministry of Defence
