HC Deb 02 December 1985 vol 88 cc61-2W
Mr. Simon Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for the Environment (1) what meetings he has had with the Equal Opportunities Commission to discuss the implementations of those parts of the Nairobi conference on forward looking strategies for the advancement of women relevant to his Department; and what future plans he has for such meetings;

(2) what steps he is taking to evaluate the success of those parts of the United Nations Nairobi conference on forward looking strategies for the advancement of women which apply to his Department; what resources he has allocated to this; and if he will make a statement;

(3) what plans he has for implementing paragraph 58 of the Nairobi conference on forward looking strategies for the advancement of women, which calls for the collection of timely and reliable statistics on the situation of women;

(4) whether he will establish a special office within his Department to monitor periodically and accelerate the process of equitable representation of women as called for in paragraph 88 of the United Nations Nairobi conference on forward looking strategies for the advancement of women.

Mrs. Rumbold

The Department of the Environment is already reviewing its policies and procedures to ensure equality of opportunity for women in the Department. A joint committee of management and trade unions was set up in 1984 to consider such matters as recruitment, promotion, training and flexible working patterns; its work continues. Equal opportunity officers have already been appointed to oversee progress in this area. The Department of the Environment is also participating in further service-wide work on this subject including the creation of the necessary data-base, which should go a long way to meeting the recommendation in paragraph 88 of the strategies document.

As to equal opportunities in the environment field generally, the Department of the Environment is studying the text of the Nairobi forward looking strategies for the advancement of women and will be considering with other Government Departments and the Equal Opportunities Commission how best to take its conclusions forward.