Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Progress Report 2022-23

Introduction - Professor Anusha Shah, Non-Executive Director

Welcome to the Met Office’s second annual Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I) progress report.

Just looking at the content of this report, one can see the work touching across all aspects of the ED&I. I am grateful to Penny Endersby, Tammy Lillie and Jon Petch’s leadership in pushing the agenda and accelerating progress so that every person is treated with fairness, dignity and respect throughout their Met Office journey. At the same time, they continue to remind us that it has to be a collective effort from the board to the teams on ground. 

In order to deliver work that benefits the wider society and meets the Met Office objectives, we need to value each other and therefore need to ensure there is equal respect as well as equity of access and opportunity for everyone. To enable this to happen we must be diverse, inclusive and equitable in our approach and make ED&I pervasive in everything we do. It’s heartening to see the cross-organisation and local team efforts in driving this culture of inclusion.

The Met Office is a data driven and customer focused organisation. The insights gained from the equality, diversity and inclusion data, networks and customers are now being applied to help improve how we operate and engage with others. We aim to be transparent in our diversity and inclusion approach ensuring our progress and improvement can be clearly seen by our staff, public and customers. This open and honest approach, is what I believe, will help drive the positive change and equip every person at the Met Office to not only deliver better outcomes for the Met Office and wider society but also make their own journey at work a pleasant and rewarding experience

[Penny Endersby (Chief Executive), Tammy Lillie (Chief People Officer) and Jon Petch (Chair of ED&I Committee)]

Useful diversity and inclusion terms used in report

Civil Service is politically impartial and independent of UK government and helps the government of the day develop and implement its policies as effectively as possible.

Diversity is the differences in colour, ethnicity, abilities, age, gender, beliefs, interests, socioeconomic (class), marital or partnership status, sexual orientation, geographic, academic/professional backgrounds, opinions, backgrounds, thinking, experiences, and many other characteristics (CIPD, 2023).

Equality is about ensuring equality of access, treatment, outcomes and impact in both employment and service delivery. It is rooted in ideas of justice and fairness and enshrined in the Equality Act 2010 which highlights that every individual must have an equal opportunity to make the most of their lives and talents. It is also the belief that no one should have poorer life chances because of their background, personal identity, or experience (CIPD, 2023).

Inclusion is the practice of including people in a way that is fair for all, values everyone’s differences, and empowers and enables each person to be themselves and achieve their full potential and thrive at work (CIPD, 2023).

Protected Characteristics In the UK it is against the law to discriminate against someone because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation.   These are called protected characteristics and more detail can be found in the Equality Act 2010.

STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, a term used to group together these academic disciplines.

Methodology – we are working to ensure all our protected characteristic fields meet the Office for National Statistics UK best practice.

All data on gender is collected globally. Our gender pay gap uses the Government Equalities Office methodology which is based on sex at birth or subsequent gender recognition certificate. Gender identity elsewhere is based on self-declaration. Numbers for gender may not total 100% due to inclusion of people who identify as transgender, non-binary, or who choose not to disclose.

Data reporting - Numbers may not total 100% due to inclusion of people who choose not to disclose. We have a duty in the UK not to disclose sensitive information in a format that may identify staff.