§ 40. Mr. Peter BottomleyTo ask the Minister for the Civil Service if his office has circulated the race relations employment advisory service report on the Department of Employment to other Departments.
§ Mr. RentonThe report was circulated to Departments in 1986. More recently my office has published a programme for action on race to ensure equality of opportunity throughout the civil service.
§ Mr. BottomleyWill my right hon. Friend make sure that there is regular monitoring? One of the best things that the civil service can do is to show how to overcome indirect as well as direct discrimination.
§ Mr. RentonI appreciate what my hon. Friend says. As he knows, the aim of the programme for action on race is to ensure that we recruit, develop and retain the best available civil servants totally regardless of race or colour. We regularly monitor the figures, which show an increase in ethnic minority staff at senior grades over the past year —from 1.5 to 1.7 per cent. I hope that that trend continues.