Ethnic Minority School Leavers (Hansard, 17 February 1986)

§ 50. Mr. Janner
asked the Minister for the Civil Service whether he has now explored ways of giving further encouragement to ethnic minority school leavers to apply for Civil Service posts.

§ The Minister of State, Privy Council Office and the Minister for the Arts (Mr. Richard Luce)
A study by Social and Community Planning Research of the attitudes of ethnic minority school leavers towards Civil Service employment is currently in progress in London, Manchester and Leeds.

§ Mr. Janner
Without awaiting the results of the survey, does the Minister not know that the proportion and number of successful applications for Civil Service posts by people from the ethnic minorities is very small, so much so that many of them believe that it is not worth while applying? Surely steps ought to be taken at once to give people a fair chance and to take positive action in accordance with the code of the Commission for Racial Equality.

§ Mr. Luce
As the hon. and learned Gentleman knows, this Government and the Civil Service Departments are committed to being equal opportunity employers. That is important. It will take some months before we know the outcome of a series of surveys that are being undertaken to establish the degree of discrimination. In the meantime, we have drawn the attention of community relations councils to the need to ensure that the ethnic minorities are aware of the recruitment procedures and how to apply for recruitment to the Civil Service.

§ Mr. Forth
Can my right lion. Friend reaffirm that the sole principle of recruitment to the civil and public service in all its forms will be merit and ability and that no other criteria will be admitted?

§ Mr. Luce
Yes, Sir.

§ Mr. Meadowcroft
Does the Minister accept that those of us who are anxious to increase the numbers of ethnic minorities in the public service are nevertheless concerned that ethnic monitoring might take such a form as to be capable of being traced back to an individual member of an ethnic minority? Will the Minister give an undertaking that whatever kind of ethnic monitoring is used, it will not be possible for it to be traced hack in due course to an individual?

§ Mr. Luce
I can confirm that the heart of the scheme is that it should be operated on a voluntary, self-classification basis.

§ Mr. Hickmet
When encouraging school leavers to enter the Civil Service, whether from the ethnic minority groups or elsewhere, does my right hon. Friend appreciate that if more Civil Service departments were to leave London and go to the regions that would provide a greater opportunity for all school leavers, whatever their ethnic origins?

§ Mr. Luce
My hon. Friend knows that there is a policy to disperse civil servants outside London. The programme of dispersing 5,900 civil servants to the regions has not yet been completed.

§ Mr. Peter Bruinvels
Will my right hon. Friend visit the local Department of Health and Social Security office in Leicester, where he will see large numbers of members of the ethnic communities already active and working well there? Are they not, therefore, already applying for jobs? Perhaps the hon. and learned Member for Leicester, West (Mr. Janner) has not visited those offices and spotted the large number of members of the ethnic communities who are already working there.

§ Mr. Luce
I am encouraged to hear my hon. Friend's evidence. No national statistics are available, because we do not make surveys that are based on ethnic origin. There is a clear policy of equal opportunity in the Civil Service.