This policy statement sets out the position of the GPA Board in relation to Diversity and how the organisation will address issues of diversity through a number of appropriate policies and groups in the organisations. The organisation is committed to include any relevant groups in the strategic Directing Diversity Group (DDG).

Diversity is a concept and to manage diversity it is assumed and accepted that the workforce, customers and stakeholders consists of a diverse population of people. The diversity consists of visible and non-visible differences which will include factors such as sex, age, background, race, disability and religious persuasion. GPA’s approach is founded on the premise that harnessing these differences will create a productive environment in which everybody feels valued and their talents are fully utilised and in order to better meet organisational goals.

The GPA Board, as part of its corporate responsibility, adopts a positive commitment to embracing diversity. This is based on four values:

Equality - we commit ourselves in delivering services and employing people to do so on the basis of everyone's right to fair and equivalent treatment. We recognise that in a diverse population people have different starting points and needs and that treating people equitably is not the same as treating people the same. Where a system treats people unfairly because of their difference, discrimination can be seen to be operating at both an institutional level and a personal level. It is necessary for the organisation to have mechanisms in place to ensure equality of access to the rights and expectations of employment and to the delivery services offered.

Levering Difference - in delivering equality, we need to consider whether that is in relation to equal access to an abstract 'norm', or to a vision of an organisation as a community which seeks to use the breadth and diversity of experience it contains to develop and lever maximum business benefit. Difference should be valued as a strength that will assist us to meet the needs of a diverse community and to adapt to changes in that community. A positive endorsement of the value of diversity also makes it clear that we welcome people to the organisation valuing their difference, and committing ourselves to occasional related costs as an investment to achieve this.

Social Cohesion - one of the roles of the probation service is to promote social cohesion and, less positively, to deal with the effects of social exclusion. It is imperative that this organisation establishes itself as a model of social cohesion and does not let itself become associated with the support of one, or a limited number of groups, over others.

Human Rights – the Probation Service, often working with the more disadvantaged in society, should and does value diversity, but there are also general reasons to do so concerned with people's human rights. Whatever the benefits to us as an organisation, and they are profound, people have a right to fair and equal treatment, and for that to be meaningful, not simply a token.