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‘Saluting our Sisters’ Campaign Posters and Diversity and Equality Groups/Forward Action Plans

Date released
8 April 2024
Request number
202403066
Release of information under
Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA)

Information requested

  1. I am now making a Freedom of Information Act disclosure request for the Intranet page dated 26 October 2023, entitled "Black History Month - 'Saluting our sisters' campaign".

    It is my understanding that this page describes the campaign as a salute to black women who had their contributions ignored, ideas appropriated and their voices silenced.

  2. I am now making a Freedom of Information Act disclosure request for the poster campaign displayed throughout ONR offices entitled "Saluting our Sisters" or "BHM - Saluting our Sisters". You justified the single sheet poster which you provided, and which I didn't request disclosure of, Women Who Move Mountains by stating that it celebrates "women who have made significant contributions to science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields; an area of particular relevance to ONR". Can you confirm why Saluting Our Sisters, a left wing intersectionality 'campaign' was displayed, and whether any right wing campaigns have ever been displayed?
  3. I am now making a Freedom of Information Act disclosure request of the name of any Network or group for protected characteristics (Race, Gender, Sexuality, etc) and details of whether they are sponsored by left-wing organisations.
  4. I am now making a Freedom of Information Act disclosure request for the number of times in the last 12 months that articles from The Guardian newspaper or from left-wing sponsors have been posted in any form by these groups or networks mentioned in the previous request.
  5. I am now making a Freedom of Information Act disclosure request for a copy of the Diversity and Inclusion Forward Action Plan.
  • As with my previous FOI request, I have been informed that the DEI structure of ONR has been interlaced with left wing activism. The documents that you have already provided call for left-wing activism in several places. Several former members of staff from over-represented groups have reported that they left ONR because of how only under-represented groups were explicitly valued over them. It is our understanding that you have increased the attraction and retention of staff from non-white backgrounds, and have decreased the retention of staff from white backgrounds, corroborating this.

Information released

We confirm that under s.1 of the FOIA, we hold some of the information you have requested, and have answered your requests in turn below.

Question 1

Please find enclosed the requested intranet page, entitled ‘Black History Month – ‘Saluting our sisters campaign - ONR Intranet_Redacted’.

Please note that information relating to individuals has been redacted from the document as it constitutes personal data. The release of this type of information could identify an individual either directly or indirectly, and as such, any personal data that could identify another individual has been withheld under the remit of exemption s.40(2) of the FOIA.

Question 2

Please find enclosed the requested posters, which formed the ‘Saluting our Sisters’ campaign as part of the official Black History Month resource pack. Please note, as the overall size of the documents exceeds our servers size limit for sending documents electronically, these will be split across two separate emails. For clarity, there are a total of 68 posters, within the following titles:

With regards to the final point you raise in this question, our impartiality is essential as an independent, statutory regulator, and we do not engage in activities that imply social or political bias. Our recognition of Black History Month, and use of associated marketing material, was purely intended to celebrate cultural diversity and we do not hold any information that would categorise this or any similar activity as left wing or right wing.

Question 3

The only groups/networks we currently have in place are the Gender Equality Network (GEN), and the Diversity and Inclusion (DIG) group which are internal networks open to all colleagues and they do not receive any sponsorship from any organisation.

Clarification

Subsequent to our response above, clarification was sought from the requestor and we provided clarification to advise that we had interpreted this question to mean financial sponsorship, and confirmed that the GEN/DIG groups do not receive financial sponsorship from any organisation. The Prospect trade union provides support to the GEN which has taken the form of advice and guidance only (for example, providing guest speakers for webinars, and providing contacts with other networks from other organisations to share good practices).

We clarified that we are unable to speak on behalf of Prospect, however provided a link to the Prospect website which provides a statement on their political independence.

ONR, including its internal networks, is not, in any way, affiliated with any political party. As an Arm’s Length Body, our impartiality is essential and we do not engage in activities that imply social or political bias or which could call into question ONR’s impartiality.

Question 4

We do not hold this information.

Question 5

Please find enclosed our current ‘Diversity and Inclusion Forward Action Plan’.

Final Point

This statement is incorrect. We have not increased the attraction and retention of staff from non-white backgrounds or decreased the retention of staff from white backgrounds. We welcome and value all our colleagues - irrespective of race, ethnicity, religion, ability, gender or sexual orientation – and are proud of our stated values as a modern organisation that strives to be ‘fair, open-minded, supportive and accountable’.

Before leaving ONR, all staff are invited to complete an exit questionnaire and the data shows that this is not an issue or area of concern for ONR.

Clarification

Subsequent to our response above, clarification was sought from the requestor on the document ‘ONR Diversity & Inclusion Plan 2022/2025’, stating that within this document, objective 2 is to 'increase the representation of Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic staff in ONR', that ONR has set a target of non-white staff for 10%, and that ‘recruitment data shows an increase in the attraction and retention talented people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.’. The clarification request stated that much of the DEI documentation and supporting documentation calls for different treatment of majority groups to minority groups, be that gender or race.

We clarified that the requestor’s initial correspondence stated “I have been informed that the DEI structure of ONR has been interlaced with left wing activism. The documents that you have already provided call for left-wing activism in several places. Several former members of staff from over-represented groups have reported that they left ONR because of how only under-represented groups were explicitly valued over them. It is our understanding that you have increased the attraction and retention of staff from non-white backgrounds, and have decreased the retention of staff from white backgrounds, corroborating this.”

To this, we responded that this statement was incorrect and that we have not increased the attraction and retention of staff from non-white backgrounds or decreased the retention of staff from white backgrounds and advised that we have not been afforded any information to the contrary from ex-colleagues during exit interviews. This statement remains to be true.

The point, which refers to ‘setting an objective of 10% for non-white staff’, should not be read in isolation. It is important to view Figure 1 below, as well as our full response in its totality, to ensure that the context is not being misunderstood.

The heading ‘success measurement and outcome’ outlines criteria for meeting our aspirational target and the observed outcome thus far. ONR introduced a diversity target of 10% in 2022/23 for the increased representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff by 2030. This target is aspirational for the sole purpose of increasing underrepresented groups to ensure we have a genuine climate of inclusion. The success measurement and outcome of this objective has had the byproduct of increased attraction and retention, which is referred to in the final bullet point of Figure 1 above. We confirmed that we have not increased/decreased the retention of any demographic in favour of another.

Exemptions applied

s.40

PIT (Public Interest Test) if applicable

N/A