§ Mr. EffordTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department of the Macpherson inquiry recommendations; and if she will make a statement. [80539]
§ Mr. FoulkesNone of the 70 recommendations contained in Chapter 47 of the Macpherson report falls directly within our Department's remit. However, the report has been examined to assess whether there are any indirect implications.
We are fully committed to delivering the values set in its equal opportunities policy. It has accepted the Commission for Racial Equality's Leadership Challenge and the Charter for Action on Improving the Representation of Ethnic Minorities in the Senior Civil Service, and additional staff resources have recently been allocated to the Unit responsible for these matters.
The Department maintains strict policies aimed at avoiding all forms of discrimination and a recent audit of recruitment systems carried out for the Civil Service Commissioners described these as commendable. DFID has participated in public events aimed at promoting the Civil Service as a career for members of the ethnic minorities. We also promote our equal opportunities policy through training, and other forms of positive action are to be developed with this aim. Through the publication of ethnic monitoring data we seek to account publicly for our performance in the field of employment.
More widely, over the last two years, the Department has made important changes aimed at integrating the staff it engages overseas closely into its structures and management processes and affording them access to employment protection procedures by administrative action.
Our White Paper, "Eliminating World Poverty" underlined the importance the Government attach to increasing development awareness in the UK. Ethnic minorities are represented on the Development Awareness Working group, whose terms of reference explicitly require the Group to advise on how ethnic and religious groups can be properly covered.
We established a Development Policy Forum last year to enable individuals and representatives of groups from all parts of society, including ethnic minorities, to share
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Date Title 1997 July Resolution of the Council on Coherence December Resolution—Microfinancing 1998 May Conclusions—Follow up to the December 1995 resolution on Gender May Conclusions—Follow up to the 1993 resolution on the tight against Poverty July Human Rights regulation based on article 235 July Human Rights regulation based on article 130 October Draft guidelines for strengthening operational co-ordination between the Community and member states in the field of development co-operation November Presidency proposal for the resolution on indigenous peoples within the framework of the development co-operation of the Community and member states Conclusions of the Council and of the representatives of members states on the role of development co-operation in strengthening peace building, conflict prevention and resolution thinking and ideas for development and draw on their wealth of knowledge and experience. We had a very useful consultation with the Commission for Racial Equality on suitable representatives for the Forum's Steering Committee and instructed the ten organising committees in the home counties and the English regions to ensure that ethnic minorities were properly represented. We will be continuing with this initiative in future years and will be looking for continuing active participation from ethnic minority representatives.