Our commitment to Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (ED&I)

We are passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion and want to create a sense of belonging for all, celebrating difference, and treating each other with dignity and respect.

We are still on our ED&I journey and have made significant progress in the last couple of years, but we know some of the work we are doing will take time to have an impact. We are passionate about equality, diversity and inclusion and want to create a sense of belonging for all, celebrating difference, and treating each other with dignity and respect.

As a public body, we also must comply with the Equality Act 2010 and specifically the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), this requires us to consider the impact of our activities and services on people who identify with one or more of the nine protected characteristics and also take proactive steps to:

  • Eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and victimisation and any other conduct prohibited by the Act;
  • Advance equality of opportunity between people who share protected characteristics and people who do not; and
  • Promote good relations between those who share protected characteristics and those who do not.

In 2020, we launched our first Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Strategy. This set out our approach to ED&I and included our equality objectives. Our first objective was amended in late 2021 to reflect that we deliver services to a wide range of customers. Our equality objectives also align closely with the current Civil Service objectives.  We plan to review our strategy and objectives over the coming year in line with legislation.

Our annual ED&I action plan links to both our objectives and strategy and describes what we will focus on over the next year. This plan is regularly reviewed and updated in light of both internal and external changes such as ensuring we are supporting the delivery of key government strategies including:

This report details our progress over the last year, highlighting some of our achievements, and how we want to move from a position of basic compliance to a position where equality, diversity and inclusion is part of our visible culture and DNA in our approach. It also outlines some of our priorities for 2023-24.

Governance

Our ED&I Committee monitors progress against our ED&I strategy by regularly reviewing the ED&I action plan and reporting updates to the People Committee and the Met Office Board twice a year. The committee has representation from all directorates within the Met Office, and these representatives help to drive change in their respective directorates.

The Diversity Council meets monthly and each of our staff networks and sponsored groups is represented. The council is an opportunity to share good practice but also to discuss issues of concern and escalate to the ED&I committee when necessary.

 

The ED&I action plan is a mixture of cross organisation and directorate specific actions which are relevant to certain professions or types of work conducted in the Met Office. Our action plan is data driven and evidence led and plays a crucial role embedding ED&I into all our directorates.