Objective 1: Embed equality values into the organisational culture at Sport Wales
A strong culture of equality ensures fair treatment for all staff, fosters a sense of belonging, and attracts and retains diverse talent. It aligns with the Welsh Government's vision of a fair and inclusive society and with the Wellbeing of Future Generations goal for a more equal Wales.
Actions:
Short-term (6 months – 18 months):
- Foster a welcoming, safe and inclusive environment within our organisation, celebrating diversity and promoting respectful interactions.
- Ensure that our buildings are fully accessible and meet the changing needs of our people and those who use our facilities, giving due consideration to the Social Model of disability.
- Continue to develop and deliver comprehensive learning and development programmes for our staff to enhance awareness and understanding of equality values.
- Ensure that our training materials, communication channels, and events are accessible to all individuals.
- Deliver on site career experiences for children in schools of lower socio-economic status.
- Work with Welsh Government to attract more diverse applications for new members of our Board.
- Undertake a self-assessment using the Moving to Inclusion Framework and identify gaps and opportunities to accelerate progress.
- Conduct a critical review of our Impact Assessment approach to ensure that it is aligned to any emerging and innovative practices.
- Continue to further diversify our workforce, positively generating opportunities for people with under-represented protected characteristics.
- Provide support and understanding for people throughout the menstrual health cycle.
Medium/Long-term (18 months - 4 years):
- Continue to further diversify our workforce, positively generating opportunities for people with under-represented characteristics.
- Develop a behaviours recognition programme to celebrate and further embed our values.
- Establish peer mentoring programmes for under-represented groups in our workforce.
Purpose:
- Recognise that whilst we have made progress on diversifying our workforce, we need to do more.
- A need to foster a sense of belonging within Sport Wales where people feel respected and valued for their own talents and insight through lived experience.
Link to our Strategic Intent:
- To be a highly valued organisation
- To be person-centred
- Ensure everyone has the opportunity to be active through sport
Monitoring Progress
- Workforce and recruitment diversity data (Aim: to increase diversity of workforce and applicants to Sport Wales)
- Training (Aim: to develop a comprehensive suite of accessible training content and to maximise completion rates for any mandatory training)
- Reported incidents of discrimination or bias (Aim: to reduce/eliminate acts of discrimination whilst also fostering a culture where staff feel able to challenge and/or report incidents when witnessed)
- Audits of our facilities (Aim: to ensure that our facilities are fully accessible)
- Staff engagement surveys (Aim: to embed an inclusive organisational culture within Sport Wales with high levels of staff engagement)
Alignment with legislative and policy context
Welsh Government’s Equality and Human Rights Action Plan 2023-2026, which states that “we will work to create a more inclusive and equitable Wales, where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.” This objective aligns with the Welsh Government goal of creating a more inclusive workplace.
Welsh Government’s Social Justice Strategy 2021-2026, which states that “we will work to create a more just and inclusive Wales, where everyone has equal opportunities to succeed.” This objective aligns with the Welsh Government goal of creating a more inclusive society.
Welsh Government’s commitment to applying the Social Model of Disability.
Objective 2: Eliminate pay gaps
Pay gaps based on protected characteristics create unfairness and hinder talent retention. Eliminating pay gaps strengthens Sport Wales's commitment to equality and sets an example for the wider sports sector.
The actions below (and under objective 1) incorporate our Gender Pay Action Plan.
Actions:
Short-term (6 months – 18 months):
- Conduct regular pay gap audits disaggregated by protected characteristics.
- Continue to pay the Real Living Wage.
- Positively encourage female, ethnic minority and disabled applicants for senior leadership roles.
Medium/Long-term (18 months - 4 years):
- Explore ethnicity / disability / sexual orientation pay gap reporting alongside gender reporting.
- Offering targeted mentoring opportunities for under-represented groups.
- Progression and succession planning across directorates with a focus on diverse talent pipelines.
- Female leadership development programme / Remove any barriers to encourage female applicants to partake in leadership development programmes (depending on findings of short-term actions).
- Implement targeted interventions to close identified pay gaps.
Purpose:
- The Sport Wales reported gender pay gap at 31 March 2023 was 7%. Whilst this is below the national average, we are committed to eliminating this gap.
- Data indicates that there are pay gaps related to other protected characteristics, including ethnicity and sexual orientation, albeit that this information does not yet meet minimum statistical reporting levels.
Link to our Strategic Intent:
- To be a highly valued organisation
- Long term
- To be person-centred
Monitoring Progress
- Annual gender pay gap reporting (Aim: to eliminate identified gender pay gap)
- Workforce diversity data including at leadership level (Aim: to achieve a more diverse workforce across Sport Wales)
- Pay gap data analysed by protected characteristics (Aim: to eliminate pay gaps across protected characteristics)
Alignment with legislative and policy context
Welsh Government’s Fair Pay for Women in Wales Action Plan 2022-2025 which states that “we will work with employers to ensure that women are paid fairly and that pay gaps are closed.” This objective aligns with the Welsh Government’s goal of closing the gender pay gap.
Objective 3: Embed socially responsible procurement at Sport Wales
Integrating social responsibility considerations into procurement fosters positive economic, social, and environmental impacts. This aligns with the Welsh Government's commitment to sustainable development and tackling inequalities.
Actions:
Short-term (6 months – 18 months):
- Review our procurement processes and procedures to make it easier for small businesses to work with us.
- Develop an overarching Procurement Strategy that embeds consideration of social value and sustainability.
- Train staff on the new procurement approach (if existing framework is already developed).
- Collaborate with partner organizations such as WRAP Cymru to share best practices and identify emerging good practices for social value and sustainability.
Medium/Long-term (18 months - 4 years):
- Implement streamlined procedures and support mechanisms for small businesses to participate in Sport Wales's procurement processes.
- Monitor the impact of socially responsible procurement initiatives on social value, sustainability, and small business engagement.
Purpose:
- We want to be an exemplar organisation for adopting a socially responsible approach to our procurement, leveraging our influence to enhance the social, cultural, environmental and economic wellbeing within Wales.
Link to our Strategic Intent:
- To be a highly valued organisation
- To be person-centred
Monitoring Progress
- Contracts Register (Aim: greater transparency of procurement activity)
- Data on supply chains, including ‘local’ contract awards and SME spend (Aim: to support a circular economy approach and support local supply chains)
- Reported carbon emissions (Aim: reduced carbon emissions).
Alignment with legislative and policy context
The Social Partnership and Public Procurement (Wales) Act 2023 requires Sport Wales to put environmental, social, economic and cultural wellbeing at the heart of procurement activity.
Welsh Government’s Equality and Human Rights Action Plan 2023-2026 which states that “we will work to ensure that all public bodies in Wales are equipped with the knowledge and skills to implement equality and human rights principles.” This objective aligns with the Welsh Government goal of ensuring that all public bodies are aware of their equality and human rights obligations.
Objective 4: Cultivate a culture of continuous improvement within Sport Wales and with partner organisations
A culture of continuous improvement ensures adaptation to changing needs, embraces innovation, and drives excellence in delivering on strategic objectives. It aligns with the Welsh Government's focus on public service excellence and the Moving to Inclusion Framework approach of self-reflection and continuous improvement.
Actions:
Short-term (6 months – 18 months):
- Conduct thorough user testing of the School Sport Survey to ensure inclusivity and accessibility for all young people.
- Use data and insight from staff surveys to identify immediate areas for improvement and service adjustments.
- Implement the learning from our review of the community investment approach to ensure that our process for receiving and monitoring funding is accessible to all communities.
- Review the impact of changes to the investment model on partners to ensure that the intended outcome of addressing participation gaps in underserved communities is progressing.
- Develop a revised Capability Framework, supporting continuous improvement of partner organisations so that they are sustainable and best prepared to achieve their potential. This will include consideration of board diversity and cultures.
- Consider the learning from partner’s implementation of the Moving to Inclusion Framework.
Medium/Long-term (18 months - 4 years):
- Foster a culture of collaboration and knowledge exchange to drive progress towards equity and inclusion.
- Deploy our service design team to adopt a user needs approach to key projects and areas of change, particularly in the digital space.
- Establish a system for tracking the long-term impact of changes and interventions on addressing equity and accessibility goals.
Purpose:
- We are a learning organisation and committed to responding in an agile way to the needs of our staff and the people of Wales.
- We are committed to the Moving to Inclusion Framework, which encourages the development of inclusive practice via self-reflection and continuous improvement.
- We want to maximise the impact of all that we do to deliver the Vision for Sport in Wales.
Link to our Strategic Intent:
- To bring people together for the long-term
- To be person-centred
- To be a highly valued organisation
Monitoring Progress
- New and different organisations / requests for funding (Aim: to increase our reach and investment into more diverse organisations who have not typically approached us for funding)
- Participation rates (Aim: to reduce participation gaps as identified in relevant national surveys)
- Growth of diversity and inclusion in sports sector leadership roles and workforce in Wales.
Alignment with Welsh Government
This objective aligns with the Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015
