Ethnicity in the justice system: evidence review

5. Justice Workforce

5.1 Introduction

Public authorities in Scotland are required by the Specific Duties of the Public Sector Equality Duty to publish employee information reports. This chapter provides information on the workforce composition of justice organisations in Scotland.

Published ethnicity workforce data is presented from seven Scottish justice organisations^[44]: Police Scotland, the Scottish Police Authority, the Scottish Prison Service, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service, and the Scottish Legal Aid Board. Information is also included on solicitors who are regulated by the Law Society of Scotland.

5.2 Key findings

• There is inconsistency in the level of ethnicity workforce data published by justice organisations.
• Overall, minority ethnic groups appear to be under-represented in justice organisations.
• Minority ethnic staff appear to be evenly distributed across roles and seniority within the justice organisations who report on this.

5.3 Workforce composition

The ethnicity categories reported on vary by organisation. Some organisations report on a wider range of measures than others. When comparing workforce ethnicity statistics across justice organisations it is important to be aware that some organisations have more complete and detailed data than others. There are varying and often very high levels of non-disclosure, where staff have either not provided ethnicity information or have selected a "choose not to disclose" option.

Organisations often combine ethnicity categories in order to report on them. Some organisations report on just two categories – "white" and "minority ethnic", whilst other organisations include categories for "white minority ethnic" or "other" within their classifications. Police Scotland and the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) report on four categories "White Scottish" "All Other White British", "White Minority" and "BME". For consistency, this chapter uses the term "minority ethnic (excluding white minority)" and provides a footnote to the terminology used by the organisation in their reporting.

Figure 5.1 presents a simplified workforce composition by ethnicity for justice organisations^[45] and for solicitors who are members the Law Society of Scotland^[46], which is the regulatory body for solicitors in Scotland. As noted above, the categories used by organisations to report on ethnicity differ. In order to more readily compare across organisations, data is presented here in three broad high level categories: White (including white minority ethnic), Minority Ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) and Not Known.

Figure 5.1 shows the proportion of staff who identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) across organisations, and the varying and sometimes high levels where ethnicity is not known.

The proportion of minority ethnic (excluding white minority) staff in justice organisations varies from less than 0.5% up to 3.4%. Compared to the Scottish population as a whole, minority ethnic staff are under-represented in most organisations.

According to the 2011 Census, 4% of the Scottish population is minority ethnic (excluding white minority) and 4.2% is white minority ethnic. As noted in Section 1.4, a degree of caution is required when comparing to the 2011 Census, as more recent data from the Scottish Survey Core Questions indicates that Scotland's population is more diverse now than it was in 2011. It is estimated that the proportion of the population identifying as Asian, African, Caribbean or Black, Mixed or Other ethnic group has increased to 4.7%. Accordingly, the level of representation required in the workforce to match the population as a whole will also have increased.

Further details on the ethnic composition of the workforce for each justice organisation is provided below. A more detailed breakdown of each organisation's data is shown in Appendix C: Table A5.1.

Police Scotland: Data from 31 March 2021 shows 1% of police officers and 2% of police staff in Police Scotland identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[47] and 2% of police officers, and 1% of police staff identified as white minority ethnic. There has been an increase over time in the numbers of police officers and police staff identifying as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic), between 2013 and 2021 and white minority ethnic between 2014 and 2021.^[48].

Looking specifically at probationary constables^[49], in 2021, 2% identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic ) and 4% identified as white minority ethnic, an increase from 2017 where 1% identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic), and 2% identified as white minority ethnic.

Police Scotland has relatively low levels of "choose not to disclose" (7% for police officers and 4% for police staff) or "not recorded" (2% for police officers and 1% for police staff) when compared to other justice organisations. Police Scotland also noted that the proportion and number of all staff identifying as "choose not to disclose" continues to decrease over time.

On 31 March 2021, 82% of those in a rank of sergeant and above identified as White Scottish, 8% identified as Other White British, 1% as White Minority Ethnic and 1% as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic). Eight percent of those ranked sergeant and above chose not to disclose their ethnicity, and ethnicity was not recorded in less than 1% of cases.

Of those who identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic), 16% were in a role of sergeant and above, this compares with 15% of those who identified as white minority ethnic, 20% who identified as other white British, and 23% of those who identified as White Scottish.

The proportion of those in the ranks of sergeant and above who identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic). or white minority remains the same when compared to 31/03/2020. There has been an increasing trend in the number of minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) and white minority ethnic police officers at rank of sergeant and above since 2014.

Six percent of police staff overall are grade 8 and above and 94% are grade 7 & below. Of those in grade 8 and above, 79% identify as White Scottish, 10% as Other White British, 3% as white minority ethnic, 2% as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) and 4% choose not to disclose and 2% are recorded as not known. There has been a small increase in the number of staff identifying as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) and white minority ethnic at grade 8 and above in 2021, compared to 2020. There are higher proportions of those who identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) (7%), white minority (12%) or other white British (9%) at grade 8 & above, when compared with the proportion who identify as white Scottish (6%).

As, with other organisations who report on role by ethnicity, there appears to be no evidence of horizontal segregation, i.e. minority ethnic staff working in particular roles. In Police Scotland in 2021 a similar proportion of those who identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) work as police officers (1%), police staff (2%) and special constables (2%). Those who identify as white minority ethnic make up 2% of police officers, 1% of police staff and 2% of Special Constables.

Scottish Police Authority (SPA):The Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Employment Monitoring and Analysis Report states that on 31 March 2021, 2% of staff at the Scottish Police Authority (SPA) identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[50] and 2% as white minority ethnic, 5% chose not to disclose their ethnicity, whilst for a further 1% their ethnicity was not recorded. The SPA notes that the proportion of staff identifying as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) has been "static" since data were first recorded in 2014.

On 31 March 2021, data show that minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) staff are proportionately represented at grade 8 and above compared to the overall workforce profile and disproportionately underrepresented at grade 7 and below. Minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) staff make up 2% of the overall SPA workforce, 2% of those at grade 8 and above, and 1% of those at grade 7 or below. Those who identify as being white minority ethnic make up 2% of the overall SPA workforce and are proportionally represented at grade 7 and below (2%) and over-represented at grade 8 and above (3%). The proportions of minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) staff and white minority ethnic staff remains the same as in 2020. SPA note that "given the small numbers involved, statistical variations can exist and therefore it is difficult to draw any clear conclusions." (p11)

Those who identify as other white British (15% of the workforce) are also over-represented at grade 8 (22%) and above and under-represented at grade 7 and below (11%). Those who identify as White Scottish make up 75% of the SPA workforce and are over-represented at grade 7 and below (81%), and under-represented at grade 8 and above (64%).

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS): According to the Scottish Prison Service Occupational Segregation and Equal Pay Statement April 2021, less than 0.5% of SPS staff identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[51] on 31 March 2020. The SPS has no ethnicity data for over half its staff (52.8%), while a further 9.2% prefer not to declare. Due to small numbers SPS are unable to present numbers on the vertical segregation of staff, by grade. There is no evidence of horizontal segregation based on the number and proportion of staff who identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) in "operational" and "non-operational" roles.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS): Latest organisational statistics from SFRS report an increase in the proportion of staff identifying as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[52] from 0.6% of the workforce (excluding volunteers) in 2011/12 to 1.4% in 2021/22. The proportion of "not stated" ethnicity information has increased from 24.3% in 2011/12 to 39.3% in 2021/2. The highest rates of "not stated" were in 2016/17 at 45.2%. SFRS note that the merger of HR data from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Services in 2013/14 led to a reduction in reliable ethnicity data for staff, and that improvements in recent years have been driven by a new employee digital self-service tool for HR data.

In 201/22, SFRS staff who identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) are slightly more represented in control and support staff roles (2.3% each) compared to fire fighter roles (1.4% of wholetime operational staff).

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS): According to the COPFS Mainstreaming Report 2021, COPFS appears to be more ethnically representative than most other Justice Organisations, with 3.2% of staff identifying as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[53] and 0.4% as "Other" in 2020, which is a small increase from the 2.8% 2019, who identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic). COPFS also holds more complete ethnicity data than many other justice organisations, with only 3.1% of staff choosing not to declare.

COPFS provides information on pay grades. Grades where the proportion of staff identifying as BAME are higher than the proportion identifying as BAME in the organisation (3.2%) are: trainee solicitor (10.3%); Procurator Fiscal Depute (4.5%); and Senior Procurator Fiscal Depute (4.8%).

Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service (SCTS): SCTS's Annual People Scorecard 2020/21 shows that SCTS has very high levels of non-disclosure, with 80% of staff classed as "unknown/prefer not to declare". 10% of staff identify as White, and a further 9% as White - English/Welsh/Scottish/N Irish. Only 9 staff out of 1, 844 identified as "other ethnicity", which is less than 0.5%.

Scottish Legal Aid Board (SLAB): SLAB reports its equality data in 5% bands to protect staff anonymity. In 2020/21, less than 5% of staff identified as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[54], and 5-10% selected "prefer not to say". These figures are based on 76% equality record completion, so nearly a quarter of staff (24%) did not provide equality information, which should be taken into account when considering the proportion of "unknown" values.

The Law Society of Scotland: The Law Society of Scotland is not a public sector justice organisation, it is the professional body for 12,630 Scottish solicitors in Scotland. It's members make up part of the Scottish justice workforce. Diversity Data from 2020/21 Practising Certificate (PC) Renewal reports that 3.4%^[55] of solicitors in Scotland identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic)^[56] in 2020/21. The Law Society of Scotland states that the profession is becoming more diverse, citing the significant increase in the number of solicitors identify as minority ethnic (excluding white minority ethnic) under the age of 30 (6.9%, compared to 3.4% of the total solicitor population).