Our Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES): Annual Report 2021

Contents

• Introduction
• Our Commitment
• The Action for Race Equality Group and Priority Areas for 2022
• Executive Summary
• Collecting Equality Monitoring Data
• Indicator 1
• Indicator 2
• Indicator 3
• Indicator 4
• Indicator 5
• Indicator 6
• Indicator 7
• Indicator 8
• Indicator 9

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Introduction

We have reported and published progress against the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) indicators since 2015. We will be open and transparent and show our commitment to providing a fair and inclusive environment for our colleagues from ethnic minority groups.

In 2015 NHS trusts introduced the Workforce Race Equality Standard (WRES) report. The WRES is a set of 9 indicators that enable organisations to compare experiences of colleagues from ethnic minority groups to white colleagues, to reduce gaps and make improvements.

The WRES’ 9 indicators cover:

• Workforce diversity (including Board members)
• Recruitment
• Entry into the formal capability process
• People survey questions.

NHSE/I publish two WRES reports annually, one that compares NHS Trusts and one that compares Arm Length Bodies (ALBs). The WRES 2020 data report for NHS Trusts and Foundation Trusts was published February 2021. We have not yet received the WRES 2020 data report for ALBs and there has been delays with the reporting and publication.

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Our Commitment

We are committed to the annual WRES reports and action plans to address inequalities and improve colleagues from ethnic minority groups experiences at CQC. These are embedded and set out within our three-year Diversity and Inclusion Strategy – “Our Inclusive Future”. The D&I Strategy itself supports the “Inclusion pillar” of our People Plan. This is to make sure our workforce represents the public we work hard to protect, and our people feel able to be their best at work.

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The Action for Race Equality Group and Priority Areas for 2022

To make progress on the race equality agenda and to oversee our work on race equality we have formed an Action for Race Equality group (AREG).

The AREG is chaired by:

• a Director,
• has organisation-wide representation to focus on key priorities and,
• works closely with the Organisational Development (OD) team and Race Equality Network (REN).

The vision for the group is to drive improvement in the experience of colleagues from ethnic minority groups working in CQC.

This year the AREG have decided to prioritise three areas of focus based on what the data is telling us:

1. Metric 1 – Increasing representation of colleagues from ethnic minority groups at senior level (Grade A and Above)
2. Metric 2 – Increasing number of colleagues from ethnic minority groups appointed from shortlisting
3. Metric 7 – Increasing number of colleagues from ethnic minority groups who believe in equal opportunities for career progression

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Executive Summary

Our high-level data shows:

• The number of colleagues from ethnic minority groups in the organisation has increased.
• Board level representation has improved. Yet, colleagues from ethnic minority groups continue to be under-represented at the most senior level (executive grades) and highly represented in middle and more junior grades.
• colleagues from ethnic minority groups are more likely to access the individual learning request process.
• We can see in three of the four people survey indicators:
  • Colleagues from ethnic minority groups are less likely to experience bullying and harassment from people other than CQC staff, than white colleagues.
  • There was a decline in colleagues from ethnic minority groups experiencing bullying and harassment from other CQC colleagues (which is experienced far less commonly than in NHS Trusts).
  • Colleagues from ethnic minority groups belief that there is equal opportunity for career progression and promotion is still lower than white respondents, but the figure has improved.
• When recruiting, colleagues from ethnic minority groups are less likely to be appointed from shortlisting. This indicator has continued to decline this year.

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Collecting Equality Monitoring Data

We are committed to promoting fairness and equality of opportunity for all our colleagues. By collecting information on who our colleagues are, where they are employed within the organisation and what their experiences are whilst working for CQC, we can better support them.

3,173 people were employed in the organisation as of 31 March 2021. Those that have self-reported their ethnicity using our Electronic Staff Record (ESR) are as follows:

• Percentage of staff from ethnic minority groups employed in the organisation as of 31 March 2021: 13.8% (438)
• The percentage of total staff who have self-reported their ethnicity: 91.0% (2886)

We will continue to take steps to reduce the percentage of colleagues overall who do not self-report their ethnicity within ESR. We will continue to work closely with the organisation’s Race Equality Network (REN) to monitor this data and develop a joint approach in reiterating the importance of holding accurate workforce data, explaining how this enables CQC to ensure we employ diverse teams at all levels. It is important that our people reflect the communities we serve in our regulatory duties.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will continue to promote the importance of self-declaring ethnicity on ESR to help reduce the percentage of “Not Stated” to our target of 95% (currently 91%). We will do this through campaigns, articles and videos promoted to all colleagues throughout the year to highlight the importance of having accurate ESR data. We will work with Network Chairs to encourage self-reporting in their Networks. We will work with the HR Systems & Workplace Data team to send out a direct email to employees to self-report if they have not already done so.

It is important to reflect there has been a lower than expected number of ethnic minority respondents to our People Surveys (which may affect the Indicator results which rely on People Survey results). The figure is slowly improving but we will continue to work with REN and AREG to provide reassurance to our colleagues from ethnic minority groups that our surveys are anonymous, and their contributions are valuable and an important measure of our progress towards our desired culture.

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Indicator 1

Indicator 1 requires that we report the percentage of colleagues in each of the Agenda for Change (AfC) Bands and Very Senior Managers (VSM) which include executive Board members.

CQC has its own pay and grading framework, and although a broad comparison is provided, the pay scales are not always directly comparable to the AfC bands.

Table: Changes in ethnic minority representation

Grade	Ethnic minority groups	Ethnic minority groups vs 2020	White	White vs 2020	Not stated	Not stated vs 2020
Executive Grades (VSM, B9, B8d)	8.2%	+1.2	83.6%	-1.6	8.2%	+0.4
Grade A (B8b, B8c)	9.5%	+0.5	81.1%	+1.5	9.5%	-2.0
Grade B (B8a)	13.7%	+0.8	77.7%	-0.6	8.6%	-0.2
Grade C (B7)	17.1%	+1.5	75.8%	+0.1	7.1%	-1.6
Grade D (B6)	21.5%	+4.2	67.8%	-2.6	10.7%	-1.6
Grade E (B5)	19.0%	+0.4	70.1%	-0.1	10.9%	-0.3
Grade F (B4)	11.9%	+0.2	78.1%	+1.6	10.0%	-1.8
Other	12.5%	+1.8	70.8%	+13.7	16.7%	-15.5
Grand Total (CQC Overall)	13.8%	+1.0	77.2%	+0.1	9.0%	-0.9

What our data is telling us:

• Overall ethnic minority representation has increased by 1 percentage point to 13.8%. This percentage is close to 13% which is the economic percentage of ethnic minority people employed in the UK (out of total workforce). (GOV.UK Ethnicity Facts and Figures).
• There is under-representation of colleagues from ethnic minority groups at Grade A and above. Compared to 2020 report, minor increases to ethnic minority representation are seen in all grades, including Grade A and Executive Grades.
• At Grades C, D, and E, our colleagues from ethnic minority groups are equal or more well-represented compared to the organisational average. Compared to 2020 report, there has been an increase of 4.2 percentage points in colleagues from ethnic minority groups at Grade D. We will explore this further to understand more and where there may be learnings that could positively impact other grades.
• The proportion of colleagues in the ‘not stated’ category has decreased this year.

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• 6.8% of staff at very senior management positions are from an ethnic minority background in NHS Trusts (although the figure has been slightly increasing year on year). This is significantly lower than the 21% of all ethnic minority staff across all bands of the NHS. The CQC has a slightly higher self-reported figure of ethnic minority staff at our very senior management band of 8.2%.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will run the Reverse Mentoring programme again in 2022 (led by the Academy and Organisational Development) to include both colleagues from ethnic minority groups and disabled colleagues, with more of a focus on intersectionality. This will allow the opportunity for senior leaders to mentor colleagues from ethnic minority groups, give opportunity for colleagues from ethnic minority groups to shadow senior leaders and help colleagues from ethnic minority groups to progress in the organisation. Organisational Development and the Race Equality Network will work with Senior Leadership Team to promote Mentoring and understand the importance of mentoring a diverse group of people, including colleagues from ethnic minority groups.
• We will build CQC’s brand as a great place to work for colleagues from ethnic minority groups by advertising Executive and Grade A job roles on both Vercida and Diversity Jobs.com. We are now advertising roles on these sites, and we hope that this will draw in a wider pool of ethnic minority candidates applying for our Grade A and Executive roles. This year we will review how effective these diversity job websites have been to attract diverse talent for Grade A and Executive advertised roles.
• We will continue to hold monthly talks led by the Race Equality Network with colleagues in senior roles, often ethnic minority, to discuss their story of their career pathway and their progression into their roles today.

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Indicator 2

Indicator 2 requires that we calculate the relative likelihood of colleagues from ethnic minority groups being appointed from shortlisting across all posts in the organisation compared to white colleagues.

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number shortlisted	1433	361
Number appointed	432	76
Relative likelihood of shortlisting/appointment	0.301	0.211

The overall relative likelihood of white colleagues being appointed from shortlisting compared to colleagues from ethnic minority groups is 1.432.

Figure: Data covers 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.

What our data is telling us:

• The overall figure indicates that colleagues from ethnic minority groups are less likely to be appointed from shortlisting compared to white colleagues.
• The figure has got worse compared to last year’s report which was 1.088. The figure is now outside the ‘non-adverse’ range (the non-adverse range is between 0.80-1.25, meaning any figure outside of this is significant).

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• Within the NHS Trust report, the relative likelihood of ethnic minority applicants being appointed from shortlisting, compared to white applicants, has declined over the past three years.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will evaluate our introduction of Independent Panel Members (IPMs), which currently are used for all recruitment panels hiring for Grade A, Executives and Expression of Interest (EOI) campaigns, to ensure the effectiveness of the intervention.
• We will hopefully soon begin implementing IPMs in the shortlisting process of all recruitment panels at Grade A and above (pending our evaluation outcomes). This will help mitigate biases and hopefully increase the number of colleagues from ethnic minority groups being shortlisted to attend an interview.
• We will continue the launch of a Quality Improvement project that focuses on our recruitment, led by the Action for Race Equality Group and Recruitment team. They will be examining the interview process for Executive Director grades and implementing processes to make Executive hiring more fair, unbiased and anonymous.
• We will create an Inclusive Recruitment Toolkit, to help hiring managers understand biases and ways to support interviewing candidates who are ethnic minority. This will be designed by Race and Disability Equality Network members.
• We will continue to uphold anonymous shortlisting so there is less chance for bias to come into play. As part of this we have worked with Digital to remove the option to upload a CV onto our recruitment site.
• We will only advertise Expression of Interest (EOI) opportunities through our national recruitment site, and no longer managed as local campaigns. This enables a fairer and transparent process for people to be aware of what EOI opportunities are coming up and allows us to advertise the EOI opportunities organisation wide.
• We will continue to monitor adverse impact for ethnic minority and disabled applicants, which we have built into our process for all recruitment campaigns. This involves a review of the diversity of the applicant pool at the shortlisting stage and where any adverse impact is seen we will ask hiring managers for a further review of those not shortlisted. We are also monitoring the diversity of initial applications and offers to ensure we are representative of the working population and again to identify any adverse impact within the process.
• We will explore making the Recruitment for Leaders training (which we have transformed into an e-learning module) mandatory for all line managers/hiring managers, in order to help mitigate biases at interview.

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Indicator 3

Indicator 3 requires that we calculate the relative likelihood of colleagues from ethnic minority groups entering the formal disciplinary process compared to white colleagues.

This indicator is based on a two-year rolling average. The data for 2020/2021 represents the total number of cases in the current year (1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021) and the previous year (1 April 2019 to 31 March 2020).

Indicator 3: 2020/2021

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number of colleagues in workforce	2463	424
Number of colleagues entering the formal disciplinary process	6.5	4
Likelihood entering the formal disciplinary process	0.0026	0.0096

The overall relative likelihood of colleagues from ethnic minority groups entering process compared to white colleagues is 3.646.

Indicator 3: 2019/2020

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number of colleagues in workforce	2525	409
Number of colleagues entering the formal disciplinary process	8.5	3.5
Likelihood entering the formal disciplinary process	0.0034	0.0085

In 2020/2019, the overall relative likelihood of colleagues from ethnic minority groups entering process compared to white colleagues is 2.534.

What our data is telling us:

• The overall relative likelihood figure has increased but this is mainly due to the low number of cases reported here (six colleagues from ethnic minority groups in 2019 and two in 2020), and as a result of the decrease in the number of cases for white colleagues.

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report

• NHS Trusts did not see significant change from 2019 to 2020.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will work with the People Directorate and Race Equality Network to conduct a deep dive and identify any common issues.
• We will continue to use Equality Impact Assessments (EIA) as part of all people management policy reviews which requires the Diversity and Inclusion Manager to sign this off at each review.

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Indicator 4

Indicator 4 requires that we calculate the relative likelihood of white staff accessing non-mandatory learning and continuing professional development (CPD) compared to ethnic minority staff.

Within the organisation there are two types of learning routes:

• Route 1: All colleagues can access a large number of learning resources (on and offline) on demand via our learning management system.
• Route 2: Any colleague requiring specific learning interventions which are not available via the learning management system (on or offline), does this via an application process which is reviewed by a panel and either approved, declined or deferred. This is an individual learning request (ILR). The numbers in the table for Route 2 below are those who have accessed the process rather than the outcome of the applications.

The data is based on the number of records during the timeframe (1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021), compared against an average of the workforce numbers as at 31 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, to reflect the timeframe in question.

Indicator 4, Route 1: 2020/2021

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number of staff in workforce (average)	2484	431
Number of staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD	2393	399
Likelihood accessing non-mandatory training and CPD	0.9634	0.9258

Overall relative likelihood of white colleagues accessing non-mandatory training and CPD compared to colleagues from ethnic minority groups is 1.041.

Indicator 4, Route 1: 2019/2020

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number of staff in workforce (average)	2564.5	421.5
Number of staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD	2304	394
Likelihood accessing non-mandatory training and CPD	0.8984	0.9348

In 2020/2019, the overall relative likelihood of white colleagues accessing non-mandatory training and CPD compared to colleagues from ethnic minority groups is 0.961.

Route 1 - What our data is telling us:

• There is little difference between the groups for this indicator.
• The data suggests that almost all colleagues have accessed non-mandatory training.

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• The NHS Trust report declares for all regions that the data now falls within the non-adverse range between the figures 0.88 to 1.20 (the non-adverse range is between 0.80 to 1.25, which means figures inside this range are not significant). This means there is little difference between the ethnic minority staff and white staff accessing non-mandatory training and CPD within NHS Trusts for this indicator, similar to CQC.

Indicator 4, Route 2: 2020/2021

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number of colleagues in workforce (average)	2484	431
Number of colleagues accessing the ILR process	73	19
Likelihood of accessing the ILR process	0.0294	0.0441

Overall, relative likelihood of white colleagues accessing the ILR process compared to colleagues from ethnic minority groups is 0.667.

Indicator 4, Route 2: 2019/2020

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups
Number of colleagues in workforce (average)	2564.5	421.5
Number of colleagues accessing the ILR process	116	13
Likelihood of accessing the ILR process	0.0452	0.0308

In 2020/2019, the overall relative likelihood of white colleagues accessing the ILR process compared to colleagues from ethnic minority groups is 1.467.

Route 2 - What our data is telling us:

• colleagues from ethnic minority groups are more likely to access the ILR process.
• The figure has significantly improved on 2020’s figure of 1.467. This is due to both an increase of ethnic minority applications and a decrease in white applications. Based on headcount, colleagues from ethnic minority groups were more likely to submit an ILR this year than in 2019-20 (18.4% of applications were from colleagues from ethnic minority groups compared to 9.2% for the previous year). There is little difference in having an ILR approved between the groups (85% for white, 84% for ethnic minority).

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• This is something we report on independently to the NHS Trust WRES report, therefore we cannot compare this data to the NHS Trust report.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will introduce the “Inclusive Leadership Pathway” (ILP) this year. The ILP is a leadership development program for disabled and/or colleagues from ethnic minority groups. The ILP designed by Academy, Disability Equality Network and Race Equality Network Chairs. It includes stretch projects, funded learning, and coaches. We have identified coaches from our trained coaches pool at CQC, who are from ethnic minority groups. These coaches will pair up with colleagues from ethnic minority groups currently on the program. Thus, the colleagues will receive expert coaching from coaches who can relate to them the most. The ILP will build confidence in these colleagues and prepare them to apply and progress into leadership roles.
• We will actively promote upcoming Shaping Our Future Leaders Programmes and apprenticeship programmes with the Equality Networks. For these programmes we also hold a percentage of places for applicants who are ethnic minority and/or disabled. This enables us to make sure ethnic minority and/or disabled candidates get the opportunity to apply and hopefully get accepted onto our programmes.
• We will examine whether there is a noticeable gap between ethnic minority candidates filling out “register an interest” forms (created by the Talent team) for our previous upcoming apprenticeships, and whether they applied for the opportunity in the end and review potential barriers for ethnic minority candidates applying. We will be using “register an interest” forms before we advertise any upcoming programmes and apprenticeships.

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Indicator 5

Indicator 5 concerns the percentage of colleagues experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from patients, relatives or the public in the last 12 months using data from our March 2021 Pulse Survey.

CQC's people survey question is slightly different to the one used in the NHS staff survey: "In the last 12 months, I have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from people other than CQC staff".

CQC Question Text – March 2021 Pulse Survey	Ethnic minority groups	Ethnic minority groups vs 2020’s report	White	White vs 2020’s report	Difference (between ethnic minority groups % and White %)
In the last 12 months, I have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse at work from people other than CQC staff (e.g. members of the public and service users)	6.3%	-2.8	8.2%	-1.4	1.9%

The data used for 2020’s report comes from our November 2019 People Survey.

What our data is telling us:

• Ethnic minority respondents are less likely to experience harassment, bullying or abuse at work from others external to CQC, compared to white CQC respondents.
• Scores from both groups have improved from 2020’s report (2020’s figures were taken from the November 2019 People survey).

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• According to the NHS Trusts report, across most of the regions there has been an increase in the proportion of both ethnic minority and white staff who have experienced unacceptable behaviour from people other than staff. Ethnic minority staff are also more likely to experience unacceptable behaviour than white staff (a trend that has increased over the last three years). This makes CQC’s figure of colleagues from ethnic minority groups experiencing unacceptable behaviour from people other than CQC colleagues compared to white colleagues both unique in that it has declined and that it is lower than the figure for white colleagues.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will continue to work with the Action for Race Equality Group and all the Equality Networks to introduce into the organisation a campaign that reinforces and promotes CQC’s zero tolerance of bullying and harassment, to make sure that CQC is a place where people feel encouraged and able to report bullying and harassment, including from people outside CQC.
• We will continue to monitor our People Survey results for trends. Early findings from our November/December People Survey tell us the figures for ethnic minority respondents and white respondents experiencing bullying and harassment from people outside CQC remains around the same.

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Indicator 6

Indicator 6 concerns the percentage of colleagues experiencing harassment, bullying or abuse from other colleagues in the last 12 months using the data from our March 2021 Pulse Survey.

CQC Question Text – March 2021 Pulse Survey	Ethnic minority groups	Ethnic minority groups vs 2020’s report	White	White vs 2020’s report	Difference (between ethnic minority groups % and White %)
In the last 12 months, I have experienced harassment, bullying or abuse from other CQC colleagues	10.7%	-2.7	8.4%	-2.1	2.3%

The data used for 2020’s report comes from our November 2019 People Survey.

What our data is telling us:

• Ethnic minority respondents are more likely to experience harassment, bullying or abuse at work from other CQC colleagues, compared to white CQC respondents.
• However, scores for both groups have improved from 2020’s report (2020’s figures were taken from the November 2019 People survey).

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• For 82.7% of NHS Trusts, a higher proportion of ethnic minority staff compared to white staff experience unacceptable behaviour from fellow staff. The CQC has a lower percentage figure (10.7% and 8.4%) compared to all NHS Trusts regions which range from ethnic minority staff 26% - 30% and white staff 22% - 27%.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will continue to work with the Action for Race Equality Group and all the Equality Networks to introduce into the organisation a campaign that reinforces and promotes CQC’s zero tolerance of bullying and harassment, to make sure that CQC is a place where people feel encouraged and able to report bullying and harassment.
• We will make the new Anti-bias and fairness e-learning training module mandatory for all colleagues to complete from April 2022. This programme includes a personal story from our former Diversity and Inclusion Manager of her experience in the workplace as a Muslim woman and the biases she experienced. Once the module has been completed, it takes the user to their “My Performance” page and makes people view the Diversity & Inclusion Success Profiles to choose as one of their Success Profile behaviours going forward. We hope the training and direct link to colleagues’ Success Profiles will make colleagues think about their biases towards colleagues from ethnic minority groups and choose a Success Profile to exemplify going forward.
• We will continue to highlight our colleagues from ethnic minority groups’ lived experiences at our All Colleague Conference, Black History Month events and on our CEO’s All Colleague Calls.
• We will continue to work with REN Chairs to understand whether there are trends and patterns happening in directorates or teams where colleagues from ethnic minority groups are being bullied or harassed. We will also explore and review the most recent People Survey results for additional data and comments regarding the type and origination of bullying and harassment reported.
• We will run the Reverse Mentoring programme again in 2022 (led by the Academy and Organisational Development) to include both colleagues from ethnic minority groups and disabled colleagues.
• We will create a new product on bullying and harassment which will be aimed at team managers and adapted to CQC. This will be added to line manager learning playlists, alongside videos of best practice on how line managers can support colleagues from ethnic minority groups.
• We will continue to monitor our People Survey results for trends. Early findings from our November/December People Survey tell us the figure for ethnic minority respondents experiencing bullying and harassment from colleagues in the CQC has reduced. Whereas the figure for white respondents has remained the same.

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Indicator 7

Indicator 7 concerns the percentage of staff believing that the trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.

CQC’s people survey question is slightly different: “I believe that CQC provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion.”. The most recent data available is from our March 2021 Pulse Survey.

CQC Question Text – March 2021 Pulse Survey	Ethnic minority groups	Ethnic minority groups vs 2020’s report	White	White vs 2020’s report	Difference (between ethnic minority groups % and White %)
I believe that CQC provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion	38.2%	+2.6	51.7%	-0.4	13.5%

The data used for 2020’s report comes from our November 2019 People Survey.

What our data is telling us:

• Ethnic minority respondents are less likely to believe that CQC provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion than white respondents.
• Ethnic minority respondents’ score has improved from 2020’s report (taken from the November 2019 People Survey) whereas the equivalent score for white respondents saw a minor decrease.

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report, and our 2021 WDES report:

• From the NHS Report, the proportion of ethnic minority and white staff believing their Trust provides equal opportunities for career progression or promotion has increased slightly over the years (staying around the 72% mark for ethnic minority staff, and 87% for white staff). Although the NHS Trust’s figures have a gap of 15.7% (taken from the most recent 2019 stat of ethnic minority staff 71.2% and white staff 86.9%) between the two experiences, which is wider than CQC’s 13.5% gap, both of CQC’s figures are considerably lower than NHS Trusts’ findings.
• Our ethnic minority respondents’ score improved from last year’s report (increase of 2.6 percentage points), whereas white respondents’ score declined (decrease of 0.4 percentage point). However, this was the opposite case for disabled respondents whose score has declined since the last report (decrease of 2.6 percentage points), and non-disabled respondents’ score improved (increase of 1.1 percentage points).

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will introduce the “Inclusive Leadership Pathway” (ILP) this year. The ILP is a leadership development program for disabled and/or colleagues from ethnic minority groups. The ILP designed by Academy, Disability Equality Network and Race Equality Network Chairs. It includes stretch projects, funded learning, and coaches. We have identified coaches from our trained coaches pool at CQC, who are from ethnic minority groups. These coaches will pair up with colleagues from ethnic minority groups currently on the program. Thus, the colleagues will receive expert coaching from coaches who can relate to them the most. The ILP will build confidence in these colleagues and prepare them to apply and progress into leadership roles.
• We will run the Reverse Mentoring programme again in 2022 (led by the Academy and Organisational Development) to include both colleagues from ethnic minority groups and disabled colleagues, with more of a focus on intersectionality. This will allow the opportunity for senior leaders to mentor colleagues from ethnic minority groups, give opportunity for colleagues from ethnic minority groups to shadow senior leaders and help colleagues from ethnic minority groups to progress in the organisation. Organisational Development and the Race Equality Network will work with Senior Leadership Team to promote Mentoring and understand the importance of mentoring a diverse group of people, including colleagues from ethnic minority groups.
• We will actively promote upcoming Shaping Our Future Leaders Programmes and apprenticeship programmes with the Equality Networks. For these programmes we hold a percentage of candidates who are ethnic minority and/or disabled in our potential candidates pool. This enables us to make sure ethnic minority candidates and disabled candidates get the opportunity to apply and hopefully get accepted onto our Shaping Our Future Leaders Programmes.
• We will examine whether there is a noticeable gap between ethnic minority candidates filling out “register an interest” forms (created by the Talent team) for our upcoming apprenticeships, and whether they applied for the opportunity in the end and review potential barriers for ethnic minority candidates applying. We will be using “register an interest” forms before we advertise any upcoming programmes and apprenticeships.

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Indicator 8

Indicator 8 concerns the percentage of staff who have personally experienced discrimination at work from any of the following: manager/team leader or other colleagues (in the last 12 months).

CQC's people survey question is slightly different to the one used in the NHS staff survey: "In the last 12 months, I have personally experienced discrimination at work from any of the following: my manager, team leader or other colleagues". The most recent data available is from our March 2021 Pulse Survey.

CQC Question Text – March 2021 Pulse Survey	Ethnic minority groups	Ethnic minority groups vs 2020’s report	White	White vs 2020’s report	Difference (between ethnic minority groups % and White %)
In the last 12 months, I have personally experienced discrimination at work from any of the following: my manager, team leader or other colleagues	11.5%	+4.0	4.9%	+0.1	6.6%

The data used for 2020’s report comes from our November 2019 People Survey.

What our data is telling us:

• Ethnic minority respondents are more likely to experience discrimination from managers, team leaders or other colleagues, than white respondents. This figure has increased since last year’s report and has resulted in the gap widening between ethnic minority and white colleagues and their experiences.

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report:

• In all 7 regions, more ethnic minority staff experienced discrimination at work from a manager, team leader or other colleague, compared to white staff. The data is presented in regions without specific percentages; therefore it is hard to compare the percentage gap differences present in NHS Trusts.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will continue to work with the Action for Race Equality Group and all the Equality Networks to introduce into the organisation a campaign that reinforces and promotes CQC’s zero tolerance of bullying and harassment, to make sure that CQC is a place where people feel encouraged and able to report bullying and harassment.
• We will utilise the People Surveys and exit interviews to identify trends amongst colleagues from ethnic minority groups, around working for CQC, potential areas for improvements and concern.
• We will build a stronger relationship with the Race Equality Network (DEN) and Freedom To Speak Up (FTSU) Guardians and Ambassadors, in order for REN members and colleagues from ethnic minority groups to understand and be encouraged to raise bullying and harassment they may be experiencing and know the support that will be in place from the FTSU. We will run a joint network event for February 2022 Stand Up to Bullying Day chaired by a FTSU Ambassador with panel members being Network chairs.
• We will continue to monitor our People Survey results for trends. Early findings from our November/December People Survey tell us the figure for ethnic minority respondents personally experiencing discrimination at work from colleagues has significantly improved.

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Indicator 9

Indicator 9 looks at the ethnic minority representation of our board compared to the ethnic minority representation of the organisation overall.

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups	Not stated
(i) Non-Executive membership	16.7%	33.3%	50.0%
(ii) Executive membership	83.3%	0.0%	16.7%
Overall Board Membership	50.0%	16.7%	33.3%
Overall Workforce	77.2%	13.8%	9.0%

Difference between Board and overall workforce(category percentage minus overall workforce percentage)

Category	White	Ethnic minority groups	Not stated
(i) Non-Executive membership	16.7 – 77.2 = -60.5%	33.3 – 13.8 = 19.5%	50.0 – 9.0 = 41.0%
(ii) Executive membership	83.3 – 77.2 = 6.2%	0 – 13.8 = -13.8%	16.7 – 9.0 = 7.6%
Overall Board Membership	50.0 – 77.2 = -27.2%	16.7 – 13.8 = 2.9%	33.3 – 9.0 = 24.3%

What our data is telling us:

• The figure has improved from 2020’s report, as there has been an increase in Non-Executive Board Members who are ethnic minority (increased by one, up to two). This is now above the organisation’s overall percentage of ethnic minority staff (13.8%).
• However, it is important to note that one third of the Board have not self-reported their ethnicity (‘not stated’), concerning three (of six) non-executive members and one (of six) executive members.

Data comparisons to the 2020 WRES NHS Trusts report, and our 2021 WDES report:

• In all NHS Trust regions, there is a lower proportion of ethnic minority people on Boards compared to the proportion of ethnic minority staff in the Trust.
• The ethnic minority figure has improved since our last year’s report, due to the increase in Non-Executive members who are ethnic minority. However, this is the opposite for our 2021 WDES report, where the figure has technically declined due to 0% of the Board being disabled and an increase in the overall representation of disabled staff, thus meaning the gap has widened (overall difference in Board membership compared to overall workforce is now -8.3% for disabled).
• According to both our 2021 WRES and WDES reports, 50% of Non-Executive members are “not stated” for disability, and 50% are “not stated” for ethnicity.

Some of the actions we are taking:

• We will work closely with our Executive members so they can understand the importance of self-reporting. There has been a decrease in the number and proportion of Trusts with zero ethnic minority representation on the Board (In 2016 the figure was 43.5%, in 2020 it is 23.4%). This increase of ethnic minority Board members has been represented at CQC also with the increase of 1 or 2 ethnic minority Non-Executive Board Members.
• We will run the Reverse Mentoring programme again in 2022 (led by the Academy and Organisational Development) to include both colleagues from ethnic minority groups and disabled colleagues. This will allow the opportunity for the Executive team to be mentored by colleagues from ethnic minority groups and understand the experience of being an ethnic minority colleague at CQC, as well as give opportunity for colleagues from ethnic minority groups to shadow the Executive team leaders.
• We will continue to work closely with the DHSC recruitment team to reinforce the organisation’s commitment to attract and recruit more ethnic minority people.