Transparency data

Home Office public sector equality duty training numbers 2023

Published 15 May 2023

This publication forms part of the Home Office response to recommendation 12 of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, which states:

The department should embark on a structured programme of learning and development for all immigration and policy officials and senior civil servants in relation to the Equality Act 2010 and the department’s public sector equality duty and obligations under the Human Rights Act 1998. Every year, the department should publish details of training courses attended, and how many people have completed them.

1. Introduction

In line with recommendation 12 of the Windrush Lessons Learned Review, the Home Office has created and delivers a training programme focussed on the public sector equality duty (PSED). The PSED training has been delivered in house by policy staff and Home Office legal advisors. It consists of training explaining the history of the Equality Act 2010 and the department’s public sector equality duty including the 9 protected characteristics and 3 limbs of the PSED. Training is tailored to business area and profession. We have initially prioritised delivery to policy officials and to senior leaders, senior civil servants (SCS) and Grade 6 (G6) staff, who can then cascade the training within their teams.

In order to reach our large operational workforce and meet the commitment to train immigration officials, we will roll out a separate PSED training package designed as e-learning. Training numbers for this will be reported in future publications.

This report sets out how many people have attended the training courses delivered by the training team or through the cascaded sessions, with the focus on SCS and Grade 6s.

2. Grade breakdown

Of the current SCS in the department, 270 (77%) have received PSED training.

This is calculated from a list of SCS within the department (November 2022) compared with registers taken from training attendance. SCS who have attended the training but have left the department are not included in this total.

From November 2019 up to 20 March 2023, 3,514 staff have received the training. This includes 339 SCS, 660 Grade 6s and 1,979 at other grades (G7, SEO, HEO, EO, AO and AA), 28 paid non civil servants and 508 unknown grades.

Grades are self-reported when attendees sign PSED training attendance registers, and the unknown grades are a result of grades being omitted when completing a register.

3. Area breakdown

Table 1: Number of staff trained within each business area

1. Business Area	2. Area type	3. Total SCS + G6 trained within each business area [footnote 1]	4. Total SCS + G6 within each business area [footnote 2]	5. Total staff (all grades) trained within each business area [footnote 1]	6. Total staff (all grades) within each business area [footnote 2]
Migration and borders	Operational staff and migration policy	337	474	1,365 including 358 migration and borders policy	28,025 including approximately 700 [footnote 3] migration and borders policy
Corporate and support	Other	424	521	1,554 including 89 private office, 215 analytical/science	4,764
Homeland security	Policy	103	122	299	1,132
Public safety	Policy	122	213	267	1,872

The focus of this training was on SCS, Grade 6 and non-operational staff (staff from the ‘policy’ and ‘other’ area types). The numbers above do not include PSED training at staff inductions or profession-specific events as these are separate training packages which run multiple times a year.

4. Future

Later in 2023 the training for operational staff is planned to launch, (operational staff make up approximately 69% of the overall Home Office workforce and approximately 98% of the migration and borders business area)^{[footnote 3]}. This training is designed as an e-learning package.

Details of training courses attended will be published again next year.

For the purposes of this analysis, staff have been grouped according to the area of the Home Office they work in:

• migration and borders - staff in this area includes those working in UK Visas and Immigration (UKVI), Border Force, Immigration Enforcement, migration and borders policy, and His Majesty’s Passport Office

• homeland security - staff in this area work to counter threats from terrorism

• public safety - this includes staff who support work on policing and fire and rescue services

• corporate and support - this includes staff that support other functions through a variety of means, including analysis, private offices, HR, and IT

Percentages within this publication have been rounded to the nearest whole number.

1. This includes all staff trained since November 2019 and does not consider staff attrition. Grades reflect the grade of the individual at the time they received the training. ↩ ↩²

2. Data from Home Office workforce diversity statistics 2021 to 2022 – Data tables: Table 1.2 for information on the total number of staff within each business area as of 31 March 2022. ↩ ↩²

3. This information comes from internal HR reporting data. ↩ ↩²