§ Ms JowellTo ask the Prime Minister how many appointees to public offices in the list of public appointments were women for each year since 1990; and what proportion these represented of the total for each office. [18249]
The Deputy Prime Minister[holding answer 4 March 1996]: I have been asked to reply.
Information about the annual number of women appointed to public office is not maintained centrally. However, it is known that in 1990 and 1991, women held 23 per cent. of the total number of appointments 222W to public bodies. In October 1991, at the launch of Opportunity 2000, my right hon. Friend announced a Government initiative aimed at increasing this figure further. Good progress has been made and the percentage of such posts held by women, at 1 September 1995, is 30 per cent. The following table gives the figures for the intervening years:
Held by women Total number of public appointments Number Per cent. 1990 44,057 10,256 23 1991 39,122 9,135 23 1992 41,011 10,701 26 1993 42,606 12,007 28 1994 42,876 12,686 30 1995 40,170 11,898 30