The Construction Leadership Forum has launched a National Equity & Inclusion Plan to encourage a more diverse and inclusive future for Scottish construction
The statistics of Scottish construction reflect the need for a major culture change in the sector. Just over 15% of the workforce is female, with a significant gender pay gap of 23%.
Ethnic minorities in construction are grossly underrepresented, with 1.6% of the workforce compared with 4.3% of minority ethnic workers in Scotland as a whole. Figures also show that 10.5% of the workforce is disabled, 33% of construction workforce are aged 50+ and only 2.7% of starts in modern apprentices are female. (Figures from Annual Population Survey 2020).
What is the National Equity & Inclusion Plan?
This stark and telling picture has prompted the Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) to create a National Equity & Inclusion Plan (NEIP) for the construction industry in Scotland, aiming to encourage a more diverse and all-encompassing workforce.
Funded by Scottish government, this plan is part of a wider transformation strategy for the industry, giving the sector access to a wider talent pool to support growth and help to address labour shortages.
The plan sets out “Six by 2026” strategic aims, which the CLF commits to work with industry to achieve. These aims include the sharing of best practice across industry, using data and industry feedback to benchmark progress, signposting to a range of resources for companies to access and development of industry-wide E&I accreditation.
The plan aims to address inequality in the Scottish construction industry
The plan was developed following an in-depth study by GenAnalytics, which looked at the challenges and current state of play, as well as what current best practice there is from inside and outside the sector.
It was informed by a wide stakeholder group including E&I experts, industry and government, and found that construction falls way short of equity and inclusion standards compared with other sectors and identified a number of sector-specific issues to be addressed by the plan.
Minister for business, trade, tourism and enterprise and Construction Leadership Forum (CLF) chair Ivan McKee said: “I recognise that we face new economic and social challenges of an unprecedented scale. This plan aims to support wider efforts to address inequality and promote greater diversity within the Scottish construction sector to encourage inclusive growth and help address labour shortages.
“Companies with better records of fair work, equity and inclusion do better, have a healthier and more engaged workforce and demonstrate greater diversity of thought. Fairness and inclusiveness encourage better relations with partners, shareholders, customers and employees.
“The CLF hopes the plan will help support the increased resilience of construction and reinforce wider efforts to create a more sustainable economy, in line with the Scottish government’s National Strategy for Economic Transformation.”
Lesley Quinn, divisional director of corporate affairs at City Building, one of the case studies featured in the report and three-time Queen’s Award winner for commitment to E&I, said: “We have worked hard to develop E&I across our business from our 200 apprentices to our leadership team and the results have been outstanding. There is a growing depth of best practice in and outside of the sector, so it is encouraging to see that sharing this is part of the NEIP.”
Free E&I training and support for construction companies
Lynsey Brydson, NEIP project lead at Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST), said: “The NEIP sets out a clear path for the sector to follow and importantly this will be benchmarked to monitor the progress that has to be made. Quick progress can be made through signposting to initiatives like the DIveIN programme run by Built Environment – Smarter Transformation (BE-ST) that gives free E&I training and support to construction companies.”
Emma Dickson, technical director at Arcadis and industry co-chair of CLF’s Skills & Workforce subgroup, said: “It is critical that the industry acts to be more diverse and inclusive. The plan sets out key areas that we should focus on to make that happen. Larger construction companies are making improvements, but many SMEs need tangible support to make the changes needed. The next steps will be critical to make sure this happens.”
Lynsey Brydson
National Equity & Inclusion Plan project lead
Construction Leadership Forum
