Conclusion
Our National Equality Standard (NES) Accreditation, along with the insights that the accreditation report provided, together with our five-year ED&I strategy, means that we know we are on the right path towards improving equality, diversity and inclusion in NNL and - by extension - in the wider nuclear sector.
We know that if we reflect the society we serve, we will simply serve our society better. Our purpose is one of adding social value not only through what we do (our nuclear science), but also through how we do it.
Our experiences during the Covid pandemic have shown us that we are adaptable and supportive and that we trust our people to uphold our values and behaviours. This has increased our confidence in effecting lasting, positive change.
This report is around gender parity. To improve in this area, we are doing several things to attract, retain and develop women into our sector. This takes time but we believe sustained effort will bear the results we aspire to. In summary we are:
1
Continuing to encourage more women into STEM roles in the sector through apprenticeships, graduate and post-doctorate development programmes. We had our highest-ever intake for these roles in September 2021.
2
Reviewing our Employee Value Proposition to ensure that it aligns to our ED&I aspirations.
3
Sustaining our long-term partnerships with sector-wide initiatives such as Women in Nuclear, and NSSG.
Our focus during the continuing pandemic has been to sustain the community feeling within NNL that we have fostered over the last few years and continue to embed ED&I into the heart of our business hence why it features as a core component of our recently launched Strategic Plan.