Permanent Secretaries (Hansard, 17 June 1992)

§ Mr. McAllion
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list each permanent secretary, his or her current Department, the grade at which they entered the civil service, and the Department at which they began their civil service career.

§ Mr. Waldegrave
There are currently 23 permanent secretaries—Grade 1—in the home civil service. Details of their starting grade, Department first entered and current Department are as follows, although most have had wider experience:
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§ Rev. Martin Smyth
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what factors other than religious discrimination contribute to apparent discrepancies in work patterns in Northern Ireland.

§ Mr. Atkins
The existence of religious discrimination in Northern Ireland was central to Parliament's acceptance of the need for strengthened legislation to deal with 557W continuing inequalities in employment. It was, however, also accepted that other factors contribute to the differentials in employment and unemployment between Catholics and Protestants. The hon. Gentleman may find it useful to refer to the discussion on this complex matter in SACHR's "Report on Fair Employment" (Cm 237).

§ Rev. Martin Smyth
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list(a) the sectors of employment and (b) the individual companies or employers considered exempt for the purposes of fair employment monitoring.

§ Mr. Atkins
Only private sector concerns with 10 or fewer employees are exempt from the monitoring provisions of the Fair Employment (NI) Act 1989.

§ Rev. Martin Smyth
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on the difference between a target and a quota when the FEC investigates or scrutinises the annual monitoring returns of a company and sets a target to balance the work force.

§ Mr. Atkins
Under fair employment legislation the promotion of affirmative action to secure change permits the setting of goals and timetables against which progress may be measured. Goals and timetables are targets that an employer would expect, and should make good faith efforts, to reach within a certain timescale. Quotas on the other hand reserve jobs or training places for people on the basis of religious belief or political opinion and are unlawful in Northern Ireland.

§ Rev. Martin Smyth
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will institute a survey of whether Protestant employers are more likely to discriminate than Roman Catholic employers.

§ Mr. Atkins
I have no plans to do so.

§ Rev. Martin Smyth
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the extent to which balance in the work force is an accurate measure of equality of opportunity and sectarian balance can be achieved by discrimination.

§ Mr. Atkins
Balance in a work force is no guarantee that equality of opportunity is being afforded to both sides of the community. It is for this reason that the law requires employers regularly to review not only the religious composition of their work forces but their employment practices.