Sex Matters : Help us shine a light on Stonewall

Help us shine a light on Stonewall Last year, many Sex Matters supporters took part in a campaign asking public-sector organisations to disclose information about their dealings with Stonewall. But some organisations refused, citing confidentiality or commercial sensitivity.

Now the Information Commission’s Office has said this is not good enough – and we think this will apply to many organisations. Here is our our briefing.

We want to get information from those who refused to give it before; those who gave it last time but will now have more information from 2021–22; and those who have only just appeared on Stonewall’s “Top 100 Employers 2022” list.

If you’d like to take action, use our simple instructions to make some freedom-of-information requests yourself.

What to do Go to www.whatdotheyknow.com and register as a user – the name you give will appear on your FOI requests when they are published, so you may want to use just an initial, or another name you are known by. (Keep that tab open.) Look at our our lists of organisations below and choose one, and note whether they need letter 1, 2 or 3. Go back to www.whatdotheyknow.com. Type the name of the organisation you chose into the search box. Scroll down the results page a short way to check that someone else hasn’t already chosen it – if it hasn’t had one of these requests since July 2022, click on “Make a request” by its name. The site gives you a blank request form starting “Dear [name of authority]”. Underneath that, paste the text of the request from one of our template letters (which are slightly different depending on how the organisation has responded before – they all include a link to the briefing): Template 1 Template 2 Template 3 There’s a box for a summary of your request above that, so paste in there: Information about Stonewall Workplace Equality Index (WEI). Ignore the warning that your request is getting long (it’s fine – it’s focused!), and click on “Preview your public request”. Check everything is in order. Once it is, click on “Send and publish your request”. Copy the web address (URL) from your browser window for your What Do They Know request (it will look like something like: www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/information_about_stonewall_work_2), then come back here and fill in the form at the bottom of this page to say you’ve done it (that way, we can cross the organisation off the list, and keep in touch with you in case you need to appeal the decision). Wait and see what comes back, and update the status of your request on www.whatdotheyknow.com as appropriate. Organisations that refused to disclose feedback last time (template 1) Use template letter 1 to ask them for 2021/22 submissions to the Workplace Equality Index, Stonewall feedback, and previous years’ feedback. Aberystwyth University Avon and Somerset Constabulary Bank of England BBC Belfast City Council Brighton & Hove Council British Army Brunel University London Cabinet Office CAFCAS Cardiff and Vale University Health Board Channel 4 Cheshire East Council City of London Corporation Civil Aviation Authority Competition and Markets Authority Department for Business,Energy & Industrial Strategy Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Department for International Trade Department for Work and Pensions Department of Finance Northern Ireland DVLA Financial Conduct Authority Financial Ombudsman Service Foreign Commonwealth & Dept Office Glyndŵr University/Prifysgol Glyndŵr Wrecsam Goldsmiths, University of London Government Legal Department Historic Buildings & Monuments Commission HM Courts & Tribunals Service HM Revenue & Customs HM Treasury House of Lords HS2 Hull City Council Independent Office for Police Conduct King’s College London Lancashire Constabulary Leeds City Council London Borough of Enfield London Borough of Haringey Ministry of Defence Police Museum of London Natural England NHS Blood and Transplant Northumbria Police OFSTED Plymouth University Portsmouth City Council (Children & Young People’s Services) Queen’s University Belfast Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Royal Navy Salford City Council Sport England Staffordshire University Swansea University/Prifysgol Abertawe Tate (museum) Teesside University The London School of Economics and Political Science Torfaen County Borough Council University Hospitals of Morecombe Bay NHS Trust University of Oxford University of South Wales Group University of the Arts London Vale of Glamorgan Council/Cyngor Bro Morgannwg Wales Audit Office Welsh Ambulance Service Welsh Parliament Organisations that did disclose feedback last time (template 2) Use template letter 2 to ask them for 2021/22 submissions to the Workplace Equality Index, and Stonewall feedback. ACAS Berkshire Healthcare NHS Trust Cardiff Metropolitan University Cardiff University/Prifysgol Caerdydd Central London Community Healthcare NHS TRust County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust Dorset County Council Intellectual Property Office Leeds City College London Borough of Camden London Borough of Croydon London Borough of Tower Hamlets London Metropolitan University Middlesex University London Midlands Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Ministry of Justice Oxfordshire County Council Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council Scottish Government Skills Development Scotland Slough Borough Council Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council Sunderland College Ulster University University College London (UCL) University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Foundation Trust University of Edinburgh University of Salford University of Surrey University of Sussex West London NHS Trust New organisations on Stonewall’s “Top 100 Employers 2022” list (template3) Use template letter 3 to ask them for submissions to the Workplace Equality Index, and Stonewall feedback for 2018/19, 2019/20 and 2020/21. Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service De Montfort University Greater London Authority Greater Manchester Combined Authority (Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service) Imperial College London Insolvency Service Leicestershire Police MI5 MI6 NHS Business Services Authority NHS England and NHS Improvement North East London NHS Foundation Trust (NELFT) Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service Public Health Wales Surrey & Borders Partnership NHS Foundation Trust Surrey Police Sussex Police University of Bristol University of Greenwich University of Manchester University of Roehampton Wrexham Glyndwr University Tell us you have done it