Annual Equality Monitoring Report: 1 April 2018 – 31 March 2019

Annual Equality Monitoring Report: 1 April 2018 – 31 March 2019

Chief Executive Summary

At the Forestry Commission, we
know that we are stronger as a
business when our workforce
is diverse and inclusive.

Everyone who works for our
organisation is unique. We want to
ensure that every single member of
staff feels truly valued and included
so that they feel able to share their
diverse and unique perspectives
and reach their full potential. This
is why we place great emphasis
on listening to our staff. This report
highlights how we have run diverse
focus groups and set up employee
networks to help us understand
what more we can do to increase
the diversity of our workforce and
build on our inclusive culture. These
networks are all championed
by Executive and senior leaders
across the Forestry Commission.
I am proud to lead and support
our BAME Inclusion Group.

In this report, we also focus on
our visitors. Forestry England’s
aim is to connect everyone with
the nation’s forests. It is positive to
see the wide range of community
outreach programmes in line with
this aim. Case studies in this report
range from our arts development
programme for young carers
through to our branching out
programme for dementia patients.

Whilst this report highlights the
great strides we are making, I am
very mindful that we still need
greater diversity in our workforce.
For example, our diversity data tells
us that only 1.5% of our workforce
is from a BAME background, and
we know from our focus group
work that we must do more to
support women in successful
careers in forestry at all levels.

In summary I would like to say
thank you to everyone across
our business who is leading the
great work in this area whether
this is voluntary as a member of
one of our networks or through
our community outreach work.
We can achieve more when we
work together on this priority.

Ian Gambles (Chief Executive, Forestry Commission)

The Forestry Commission family

Since April 2019, the Forestry
Commission has been made up
of three parts: Forestry England,
Forest Services and Forest
Research. In April 2019, Scotland
moved to Scottish Government.

Forestry England aim to connect
everyone with the nation’s
forests. It is England’s largest land
manager and custodian of the
nation’s public forests. It looks
after more than 1,500 forests
and woods. 99% of people live
within an hour’s drive of one of
it’s forests. It has around 1,000
committed staff looking after
more land and more trees
than any other organisation.

Forest Services is the government
department responsible for
protecting, expanding and
promoting the sustainable
management of woodlands. An
example of Forest Services’ work
includes ensuring that England’s
Woodland and Tree cover
expands both through enabling
woodland creation and providing
advice to reduce the impact
of development on existing
woodland and tree canopy cover.

Forest Research is Great Britain’s
principal organisation for forestry
and tree related research and
is internationally renowned for
the provision of evidence and
scientific services in support
of sustainable forestry.

Statistics

• 75K acres per year: Working with government to help them deliver their commitment to plant 75,000 acres of woodland per year across the UK
• 369 million visits to woodland in England in 2018-19
• 2.8 million green tonnes of timber was brought to market from England’s forests in 2018
• 1,308,000 hectares of woodland in England equal to 10% of the land area of England
• 16 million: Last year our nurseries produced nearly 16 million new trees to replant and create new areas of woodland
• The largest single provider of countryside leisure visits in England
• 32 play areas and 14 Go Ape sites
• 24 concerts over 7 sites each year – over 1.75 million people have been to our concerts
• 1,800+ miles of trails
• Over 19,000 volunteers donating their skills and time to support our forests
• 56% of England’s rarest and most threatened species live in our landscapes

Our values

Our values guide the way we
go about our business, and act
as a checklist for our actions,
decisions and behaviour.

They are things that we value
most as an organisation. Our
Forestry Commission ‘umbrella’
values are for all staff in Forestry
England, Forest Services and
Forest Research. However, please
note that Forestry England and
Forest Research have further
tailored these values to their
own areas of the business.

Team Work

We work collaboratively with
each other and our stakeholders,
ensuring trees, woods and
forests meet the needs of society.

Professionalism

We enjoy and take pride in
our work, acting with integrity
and political impartiality to
achieve high standards of
health and safety, quality,
efficiency and sustainability.

Respect

We value each other and our
stakeholders, recognising
diverse perspectives and treating
everyone with consideration.

Communication

We are open, honest and
objective with each other and our
stakeholders. We are prepared
to challenge and be challenged.

Learning

We are always learning,
developing the skills, knowledge
and behaviours to support
organisational success.

Creativity

We seek new ways of doing
things, sharing ideas and
embracing change.

Our approach to Diversity & Inclusion

The Forestry Commission is
part of the Defra family. Defra
is the government department
for environment, food and rural
affairs. We are focused on
embedding the Defra Equality,
Diversity and Inclusion strategy
which is based on four principles.

We like to call this our RISE
strategy. This stands for respect,
include, support and engage.
Throughout this report, we have
showcased some examples
of what we are doing on
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
around the principles of RISE.

Respect

All employees feel
valued, respected
and treated fairly.

Include

We promote inclusive
behaviours and
use our data to
drive workplace
improvements.

Support

We ensure everyone
is supported in the
workplace to achieve
their full potential.

Engage

Our employees,
customers and the
communities we
serve are valued
and feel included.

Case studies

In this section we have showcased
some case studies of work which
brings to life our RISE principles.

Case Study 3.1: Jack Drum and Hamsterley Forest partner to engage young carers

According to Young Minds,
the BBC estimates that
there are about 700,000
young carers in the UK.

A young carer is someone under
18 who helps look after someone
in their family, or a friend, who is ill,
has a disability or misuses drugs or
alcohol. This may include tasks such as
cooking, housework, shopping, helping
someone dress, helping someone
get out of bed, providing emotional
support and looking after siblings (source: Carers Trust – carers.org/
about-us/about-young-carers).

Thanks to funding received from the
Arts Council England for a two-year
programme titled The Hunters and
the Hunted, a young carer’s project
was successfully delivered at several
Forestry Commission sites. There are
many local community activities for
young people generally across the UK
including brownies, scouts or theatre
groups. Young people are united over
a common interest. Young carers
are frequently diverse and disparate
groups from varying backgrounds with
many issues and concerns to deal
with. This project’s aim was to connect
young carers through a unifying arts
activity in a wonderful forest setting.

This story focuses on Jack Drum Arts
and Hamsterley Forest. We engaged
Jack Drum Arts as a partner to deliver
this project. They are a long-running
arts organisation who offer a wide
range of arts activities for people of
all ages and abilities across County
Durham and particularly have
experience of working with young
carers. Jack Drum identified a group
of 12-15 young carers keen to take
part, who were supported by staff
and care workers. Many young carers
were based in local areas of low
engagement. The project was delivered
over several separate occasions
which included a get to know you
day and a creative arts workshop.

On the get to know you day, which
included playtesting the Snarkhunter
app, also developed as part of the
wider programme, Mike Daynes from
Jack Drum Arts said “The introduction
day with the young carers group was
fantastic. The young people arrived
with excitement and willingness to
take part. We started with a short
walk through the forest which gave
them a chance to better understand
their surroundings. After that we had
a wonderful outdoor lunch and then
introduced them to the app, which I
have to say, they got so much out of.
They were engaged and involved all the
way through. It really brought the story
to life and gave them some amazing
ideas for how to create something for
the artist day later in the month”.

Jack Drum Arts then ran a 3 day
creative arts workshop at Hamsterley
Forest. During the 3 days, the young
carers spent time learning about
the story of the Hunting of the
Snark. This involved creating artistic
impressions of the Snark, creating
willow sculptures of their snarks
and then installing them in public
locations within Hamsterley Forest.

As part of the redevelopment
plans at Wendover Woods, the
installation of a Changing Places
Facility was identified as an
important addition to the site.

Some people with a disability are
unable to take part in activities that
many take for granted because
standard accessible toilets do not
meet their needs or the needs
of their carers and families (Changing Places, 2019 – changing-places.org).

Funding was successfully sought
from the London Marathon Charitable
Trust (LMCT). LMCT provides funding
towards projects which improves
facilities for physical activity, sport
and play. We know that adults with
a disability are twice as likely to be
physically inactive compared to those
who don’t have a disability (42% versus
21%, source: Activity Alliance – activityalliance.org.uk/how-we-help/
fact-and-statistics). We want to encourage visitors
with a disability to get more physically
active and it is through facilities like
Changing Places that we can do this.

To ensure we achieved the best
possible design and layout, a focus
group was formed. This enabled
members of the local community
to help shape the look and feel of
the facility, acting as champions for
Changing Places at Wendover Woods. A
group of local partners and community
members came together for an initial
meeting. This group consisted of
representatives from the Chilterns MS
Centre, Action for Children, Booker Park
School and visitors to the woods who
were either carers for family members
or had a condition themselves.

The feedback gained from this meeting
was crucial in the design and layout of
the facility. Several key considerations
were discussed which influenced
equipment choices and highlighted
areas of importance for potential users.
As an example, the group highlighted
the need for an adult sized, height
adjustable bed with folding sides,
this is the design we opted for. There
was a strong theme around the need
for space, whether it is either side of
the bed, under sinks or around the
room to be able to move a wheelchair
around comfortably. We were able
to meet this need by introducing
movable equipment to the design. This
includes a movable bed and screen
and also a height adjustable sink.

We were delighted to open the facility
in January 2019 and offer something
which is changing people’s lives.
When the facility was launched on
social media, positive comments
have been received such as how this
is “fantastic news” and creates “a
possible all day trip”. Without a facility
like a Changing Places, users who
require this facility would not be able
to stay very long at Wendover Woods.

Case Study 3.3: Wild Women Days

In partnership with North East
Wilds, we host Wild Women
Days at Chopwell and Whinlatter
Forest. They provide opportunities
for groups of women to spend
time immersed in nature,
learning and foraging for
edible plants, building fires
and cooking meals together.

Quotes from participants:

“The group felt inclusive, welcoming
and supportive within a space
that often limits lone women
from feeling comfortable”

“I’m involved in a lot of mixed group activities
but was drawn to this specifically because it
was for women only. To see a group for women
to feel supported and encouraged within a
space in which they often don’t feel confident or
sometimes even safe felt long-awaited for”

Case Study 3.4: Westonbirt Arboretum engages over 7,000 participants from harder to reach audiences

In 2013, Westonbirt Arboretum
took on an ambitious Heritage
Lottery Funded (HLF) project to
raise the level of arboretum’s
visitor and learning facilities.
This funding enabled the
arboretum to engage with
wider community groups and
organisations at risk from social
exclusion that may face barriers
to visiting the arboretum.

Since 2014, Westonbirt’s
Community Programme
has worked with over 7,000
participants from harder to reach
audiences, supporting positive
mental health and wellbeing
through a diverse programme
of onsite and outreach activities.
Due to its success, since the end
of the HLF project, the Community
Programme has become a key
element of the Westonbirt offer
in supporting local communities
to access the therapeutic
benefits of the arboretum.

Nurtured by Nature

The Nurtured by Nature programme
supports both youth and adult
groups to participate in a multi-visit
programme of led nature based
intervention activities, with a wellbeing/
mindfulness focus. Activities can
include anything from learning
traditional woodland management
skills, to mindfulness based activities to
campfire cooking. Where possible, we
tailor each visit to meet the individual
needs and interests of the group,
rather than follow a set curriculum,
as each group has its own reasons
for taking part in the programme.

Due to the multi-visit aspect of the
programme, valuable relationships
are built based on trust. Participants
have the opportunity to work towards a
John Muir Award. To date, 286 awards
have been gained. Organisations
that Westonbirt have worked with
include the Department for Work
and Pensions, NHS Early Intervention
Psychosis Team and Apperley Centre.

Quote from activity participant:

“This has given me
the chance to sit with
myself and feel safe.
My heart and soul
always feels restored
after being here”

Quote from DWP Work Coach:

“One person who at
first was isolated,
had to be engaged
in conversation and
ate separately from
the group…after 8
weeks she was the
first to start work,
started volunteering
locally on others days,
undertook any task
and formed plans
and is now in full
time employment”

Case Study 3.4: Westonbirt Arboretum

Westonbirt Wellbeing

Westonbirt Wellbeing offers single
facilitated visits to adult and youth
community groups. This is particularly
suitable for groups that do not have
the availability or resources to visit
more frequently, or for introducing
new groups to the arboretum,
who may not be ready to commit
to a multi visit programme.

Groups have included Allsorts
Gloucestershire supporting children
with additional needs and their
families, ConnectAT youth group for
young people on the autistic spectrum
and Stroud Macular Group supporting
adults with macular degenerative
disease. Although regarded as one
off visits, many of these groups
now visit several times a year.

Quote from Allsorts Family Coordinator

“Thanks to our friends at Westonbirt
Arboretum for another great day out for
Allsorts Families. Our wind chimes and
stained glass pictures were fun to create
and we loved our guided walk. We look
forward to coming back at Easter”

Branching Out

A study by the University of Exeter
has found that just one hour a week
of social interaction can improve the
quality of life for dementia patients in
care homes. However, the average
amount of social interaction for
people with dementia was just
two minutes a day, which has a
knock-on effect on quality of life.

Westonbirt’s outreach programme
supports people living in residential
care homes, or attending dementia
projects to connect with both the
arboretum and others through a multi-
sensory exploration of Westonbirt’s
tree collection. The guided activity
plans provided enable care staff and
family members to increase social
interaction through reminiscence
and creative based activities.

The six week programme starts with a
visit to the care home or group by the
community team and includes hands
on activities designed to introduce
participants to the arboretum and
prompt reminiscence, conversation and
laughter. The activities can be easily
adapted to suit the differing needs of
the group participants such as craft
activities, using stiffer, larger materials
for people with arthritis who have
limited dexterity in their hands. We then
leave the group with a box of sensory
activities to enable them to continue
exploring the arboretum themselves.

During week six the programme is
rounded off with a visit to the arboretum
for a gentle stroll, coffee, cake and a
woodland craft that people can make
and take away with them to decorate
their rooms such as botanical bunting to
provide a reminder of their time with us.

One care home used the current
resource box, based around the
book The Lost Woods, to run an
intergenerational project between
care homes and primary schools to
create an art exhibition of their work.

Quote from care home resident

“I joined in with activities because I like feeling
included and being part of something”

Case Study 3.5: Wellbeing at work and how we are breaking the stigma around mental health

Our wellbeing aim is to integrate
wellbeing into everything
we do. One way that we are
achieving this is through our
aspiration to break the stigma
around mental health.

We have supported staff to share
their lived mental health experiences
with staff. These stories have also
signposted to best practice resources to
support staff that may be going through
something similar. We have shared
dozens of stories and these have been
very powerfully received across the
organisation. Stories have been shared
about depression, anxiety, post-
traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), caring
for others with cancer to name but a
few. Between November 2018-2019,
these pages received 18,305 views,
and are frequently the most liked and
commented on blogs for staff to read.

We now have approximately 200
mental health first aiders trained and
qualified across the organisation. A
mental health first aider is a go-to
person for anyone who has concerns
about their mental health. The first
aider will be there to listen, spot
the signs of someone who may be
developing a mental health condition
and therefore able to signpost them to
best practice professionals, resources
and support. Mental health first
aiders are not experts but they are
trained to listen and signpost staff
to where they can get support.

We also have approximately 25-30
wellbeing champions across the
organisation. They have been
organising wellbeing promotion
events such as talks and activities
for staff to learn about what
resources are available to them to
support their wellbeing. This has
included mindfulness sessions,
learning about OCD through to staff
barbeques encouraging colleagues
to come together and talk.

During the autumn of 2018, this included
9 Health Kiosks at our sites across
England. Health Kiosks measure and
help staff understand their physical
health such as their weight, body mass
index (BMI) and blood pressure. It will
also calculate their heart age and their
potential risk of getting cardiovascular
disease and diabetes in the future. Staff
will then get the results straight away
with recommendations of how they can
make lifestyle changes to improve their
physical health. Due to the popularity
in 2018 we have just completed our
2019 Health Kiosk tour which saw
the tour expand to cover 13 sites.

Other activities include launching new
guidance on how our staff can use their
3 days of volunteering pro-rata each
year. Over 100 members of staff have
volunteered already and they have told
us about the huge benefits this had on
their wellbeing. All staff also benefit
from our confidential 24 hours a day,
7 days a week Employee Assistance
Programme and Occupational Health
services. We are also delighted that
Mind have recognised all of our work
as part of their annual Workplace
Wellness Index and awarded us
Bronze which means we are achieving
positive change. Our wellbeing work
continues to grow in strength and we
are aspirational to get to Gold through
our revised staff wellbeing offer.

Our diversity and inclusion objectives

We are focused on the following
objectives. They all contribute in
some way to our RISE strategy:

1. Supporting new Employee Networks

We will support the creation of
2 new employee networks: our
LGBTQ+ Supporters Network and
BAME Champions Network. The LGBTQ+ Supporters Network
is open to everyone and provides
a place to champion and support
lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and questioning colleagues across the
organisation. This includes but is not
limited to support with coming out at
work, fairness and respect at work, and
ensuring that our policies and practices
are inclusive to LGBTQ+ colleagues.
At the Forestry Commission we want
everyone to be themselves at work
so that they can achieve their best.

Only 1.5% of our workforce is from a
BAME background (Black, Asian and
minority ethnic background). We will
support the creation of a new employee
run BAME Inclusion Group who will
look at what we can do to increase the
diversity of our workforce and ensure
our workplace is inclusive for all. We
will support the network review our
staff engagement survey results by
ethnicity and take action where needed.

We will also commission research
to understand what more we can
do to diversify the visitors to our
nation’s forests. We are particularly
interested in this research from an
ethnicity perspective. The BAME
Champions Network will be pivotal
in supporting this piece of work and
actions that follow from the research.

2. Women in Forestry

We will run focus groups across the
organisation to understand what
more we can do to embed a culture
of inclusion for all. We will share these
findings with our Forestry Commission
Executive Board. We will then embed
these recommendations to make
our workplace stronger. These
recommendations will come directly
from the focus groups and we will
ensure that focus group participants
and wider staff members feel part of
bringing about the changes as a result.

3. Bullying and Harassment Ambasssadors and Line Manager Training

Across the Forestry Commission we
have a zero tolerance approach to any
form of discrimination, bullying and
harassment. In support of achieving
this we will continually raise awareness
of what staff can do in case they ever
feel they need to report any behaviour
which is not aligned to this approach.
We will train up go to Bullying and
Harassment Ambassadors and roll
out refresher line manager training.

Similar to our case studies, we will
continue to outreach to diverse
community groups across England.

5. Launch of FC wide revised wellbeing offer

We will use our Mind Workplace
Wellness Index recommendations
report, our 2018 Health Kiosks report
and focus group feedback to revise
our wellbeing offer. We will launch this
to all staff to ensure they understand
the benefits of what the offer involves.
This offer will build on the work we
have already started and support us
in our aspiration to be awarded Gold
by Mind in a future accreditation.

6. Forest Live are working towards the Attitude is Everything Charter

For Forest Live annually, we host
approximately 22 concerts over 7 sites.
Accessibility is an important part of our
concerts. During 2018, we introduced
a positive change in that accessible
toilet wristbands were introduced
for all concerts. This enabled visitors
who had both visible and non-visible
disabilities/ health conditions to use
the accessible toilets without feeling
they needed to continually share their
personal details. We received very
positive feedback on this change in
our post-concert survey. This change is
one aspect of wider work we are doing
to work towards the Gold Standard
of the Attitude is Everything Charter.
‘Attitude is Everything’ are leaders
in ensuring inclusive music for all.

7. Diversity Data Declarations

We will continue to build a culture of
trust to encourage staff to update
their diversity information which
will in turn help us understand
the diversity of our workforce and
positive steps we can take.

In addition to the above objectives, we
will continue to review our diversity
data sources to take positive steps to
meet our public sector equality duties.

Our employees

• 1540 employees across the Forestry Commission
• 41% Female, 59% Male
• 2% have told us they have a disability
• The split of men and women in management roles is 60:40
• 63% of those in senior management positions are male
• 37% of those in senior management positions are female
• 1.5% of employees from a BAME background
• 1.9% of successful applicants following interview are from a BAME background
• 2.6% of successful applicants following interview have a disability
• 65% of employees are over 40

We will continue to use our data sources to drive workplace improvements (as referenced in our RISE strategy)

Conclusion

As this report is the first time
we are reporting on the
new federated model of the
Forestry Commission, we are
unable to draw comparisons
with previous reports.

However, we are proud and
encouraged by the positive work
we are doing in Diversity and
Inclusion to outreach to diverse
groups and to build a diverse
and inclusive work environment
that values each member of staff
for what makes them unique.

We believe that the work we
are already doing and our
objectives will continue.

However, we are fully aware of
the challenge ahead to make our
workforce more representative
of society. This will not be an
easy challenge and will take
time but we believe that the work
we are already doing and our
2019-2020 objectives will continue
to make progress in this area.

If you would like further
information on this report
or require this report in an
alternative format, please do
not hesitate to contact our
Wellbeing and Inclusion Team on
[email protected].

Appendix

The tables below include employment data collected
between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2019 for Forestry
Commission employees. As at 31 March 2019, the
Forestry Commission had 1540 employees.

Please note that we have recently introduced new HR systems
for employees to update their diversity information. We have
more work to do to encourage staff to declare their diversity
information hence the high ‘not yet shared’ results.

Overall employees

• Male: 59%
• Female: 41%
• Have a disability: 2%
• Do not have a disability: 22%
• Have not shared whether they have a disability: 76%
• BAME: 1.5%
• White: 95%
• Other ethnicity: <1%
• Have not yet shared their ethnicity: 2.5%
• Aged 39 or under: 35%
• Aged 40 or over: 65%

Grade by gender

Senior management

Management

Employees

For the purposes of this grade analysis, senior management is classified
as senior staff grades, official office holder positions (e.g. non-executive
positions) and pay bands 1 and 2. Management has been classified as pay
bands 3, 4 and 5. Employees have been classified as pay bands 6 and 7.

Recruitment Data

Disability

• Total applicants who have a disability: 4.2%
• Total applicants who do not have a disability: 93.0%
• Total applicants who prefer not to say whether they have a disability: 2.8%
• Interviewed applicants who have disability: 3.8%
• Interviewed applicants who do not have a disability: 94.3%
• Interviewed applicants who prefer not to say whether they have a disability: 1.9%
• Successful applicants who have disability: 2.6%
• Successful applicants who do not have a disability: 95.2%
• Successful applicants who prefer not to say whether they have a disability: 2.2%

Ethnicity

• Total BAME applicants: 8.5%
• Total white applicants: 88.7%
• Total applicants who prefer not to say their ethnicity: 2.8%
• Interviewed BAME applicants: 4.2%
• Interviewed white applicants: 93.1%
• Interviewed applicants who prefer not to say their ethnicity: 2.7%
• Successful BAME applicants: 1.9%
• Successful white applicants: 95.2%
• Successful applicants who prefer not to say their ethnicity: 2.9%

Gender

• Total male applicants: 61.4%
• Total female applicants: 37.4%
• Total applicants who prefer not to say their gender: 1.2%
• Interviewed male applicants: 59.6%
• Interviewed female applicants: 39.0%
• Interviewed applicants who prefer not to say their gender: 1.4%
• Successful male applicants: 55.0%
• Successful female applicants: 43.1%
• Successful applicants who prefer not to say their gender: 1.9%

Age

• Total applicants who are aged 39 or below: 65.0%
• Total applicants who are aged 40 or over: 32.8%
• Total applicants who prefer not to say their age: 2.2%
• Interviewed applicants who are aged 39 or below: 60.6%
• Interviewed applicants who are aged 40 or over: 37.0%
• Interviewed applicants who prefer not to say their age: 2.4%
• Successful applicants who are aged 39 or below: 63.6%
• Successful applicants who are aged 40 or over: 34.8%
• Successful applicants who prefer not to say their age: 1.6%