Culture, Diversity and Inclusion

You may be used to seeing the terms Equality Diversity and Inclusion (EDI), or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). In the profession, we talk about culture, diversity and inclusion because of the critical role of culture in enabling success, and shaping the environment for each individual to play a full role and receive fair recognition for performance and impact.

Introduction

The government first began seriously addressing culture and inclusion around 2015 following the publication of a report on Women in the UK Intelligence Community by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). A second ISC report on Diversity and Inclusion in the UK Intelligence Community expanded the focus beyond gender to include race and sexuality.  You may also like to read this blog post on how Diversity leads to better decision-making published on GOV.UK. 

Since then, a number of reviews have taken place which discuss the need for long-term cultural change and commitment to diversity and inclusion across both the profession and the national security community.  Improving D&I has multiple societal and financial benefits, through:

• improving attraction of new talent
• retaining our in house talent
• developing an inclusive culture where everyone feels safe, visible and can bring their best selves to work.

A workforce which is diverse in thought and inclusive will ensure the decisions we make are considerate of the many different perspectives and lived experiences of both our staff and the general public. 

Civil Service data shows continued year-on-year improvements across diversity characteristics. The British independent think tank, the Institute for Government (IfG) recently reflected in its Whitehall Monitor 2025 Report that today’s Civil Service is more demographically diverse than ever, becoming more diverse in:

• gender
• ethnicity
• disability status
• sexual orientation
• socio-economic background
• faith
• age

The report cites how promoting diversity and inclusion has been a priority for Civil Service leadership in recent years and refers to the work laid out in the  Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025.

Definitions

Culture

Culture refers to the ideas, customs, and behavioural norms of a particular people or society. Workplace culture is reflected in an organisation’s purpose, leadership, values, traditions and beliefs, and the behaviours and attitudes of its people. As the Civil Service serves, and seeks to represent, the whole of UK society, our culture is closely linked to the norms and values that define UK society.

Diversity

Diversity refers to the practice or quality of including or involving people from a range of different social and ethnic backgrounds and of different genders, sexual orientations, etc. A diverse organisation intentionally nurtures a workforce comprising individuals with a range of characteristics, such as gender, religion, race, age, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education, and other attributes.

Inclusion

Inclusion refers to the practice or policy of providing equal access to opportunities and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalised, such as those who have physical or mental disabilities and members of other minority groups.

The Civil Service definition of inclusion highlights three key components:

• Belonging – feeling like you belong in your organisation and team
• Authenticity – feeling like you can be your authentic self at work
• Voice – feeling like you have the opportunity to speak up and are heard

Equality and equity

Equality describes the state of being equal, especially in status, rights or opportunities. It is about more than just a lack of discrimination based on traits like sexuality, gender, and race. In the workplace, a commitment to equality requires continuing effort.

Strategies

Government Security Profession D&I Strategy

The profession published its D&I Strategy in 2020 founded on the following key principles to:

• Design every aspect of security policy to be diverse and inclusive by default. We will challenge ourselves and our peers with any assumption to the contrary
• Ensure our processes are fair, transparent and inclusive. We will encourage feedback, enable challenge and respond to our users and customers
• Continue to innovate and amend our strategy and D&I actions based on what does and doesn’t work for the wider security profession
• Build a brilliant place to work by ensuring that everyone can bring their whole self to work everyday
• Enable the free flow of ideas across the Function that drive forward innovation through building strong networks, championing ideas and working collaboratively

The Strategy is supported by action plans, the latest of which was published in 2023.

Challenge Forum

Diversity and inclusion is an ongoing commitment for the Government Security Profession. The Challenge Forum has been developed to bring the challenge that we need to our profession, bringing together a dynamic group of talented and engaged security professionals who are committed to supporting the transformation of the Government Security Function.

As Government security professionals we have a responsibility to ensure that our work embraces diversity; our policies, practices and procedures must be considerate of the people we work for and with. Inclusion elevates us all, and the Challenge Forum is an essential resource to help teams achieve this. The Challenge Forum brings together a dynamic group of talented and engaged security individuals with a variety of backgrounds and experience who are committed to supporting the transformation of the Government Security Profession. Challenge Forum members can bring new perspectives, diversity of thought and challenge into work carried out across the security function. In addition, they can be used to evaluate policies and programmes with a clear eye on diversity impacts.

There are four ways you can use the Challenge Forum to support your work:

1. Bring pieces of work to the Challenge Forum to be discussed in one or multiple meetings
2. Invite a select number of Challenge Forum members into your teams and working groups to provide input into an area or piece of work
3. Invite Challenge Forum members to form part of a decision making body or leadership meeting
4. Consult with Challenge Forum members to support completion of Equality Impact Assessments (required as part of the Public Sector Equality Duty)
5. This list is not exhaustive so if there are any other ways you would like to use the forum, let us know.

Diversity and Inclusion Network

In 2020/21 GSP set up a Diversity and Inclusion Network to:build connections between individuals involved in Diversity and Inclusion within the security profession work to develop new D&I initiatives promote the work of the Government Security Profession. In light of our latest D&I Action Plan, the network will play a more active role undertaking profession wide D&I related projects, reviewing how departmental activity aligns to the Action Plan, and sharing best practice across the profession. The network will form a vital part in ensuring we are making the right changes in the right places to better work for our citizens and our staff.

We are looking for members that fall into one of the following categories:

• Those in a role which currently includes influencing Diversity and Inclusion. This includes, but is not limited to Diversity and Inclusion Leads and HRBPs
• Individuals with an interest in improving the diversity and inclusivity of the security profession. These members do not need to be in a D&I role exclusively but should be willing to commit to supporting the profession to deliver on D&I ambitions and priorities.

If you are interested in joining the D&I Network, contact gsp@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

In February 2022 the Government People Group (GPG) launched the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025 setting a vision for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across the Civil Service to better promote fairness and performance. The Civil Service EDI Strategy 2025-2030 is in development. EDI will continue to be a catalyst to support an efficient and effective Civil Service and is an important lever to support the delivery of the Government’s Plan for Change.

National Security Culture, Diversity and Inclusion

Increased diversity and inclusion offers potential improvements to performance, recruitment, innovation, understanding and public trust. It’s not just for underrepresented groups: Diversity and inclusion benefits the organisation as a whole. Some of these benefits cut across all of the government and the private sector, whereas others are unique to National Security.

Some parts of the Civil Service and Security Profession are recognised as exemplar employees for diversity and inclusion. However, on several measures, departments that deal with national security lag behind.

National Security departments are defined as those who are represented at the National Security Council (Officials) Group. To find out more, visit National Security Council GOV.UK.

The National Security Community has also been described by the College for National Security in their Guide to the UK National Security Community.

National Security Culture, Diversity and Inclusion team

The National Security, Culture Diversity and Inclusion team sits in the National Security Secretariat within the Cabinet Office and was created to deliver NSC commitments on diversity and inclusion.