§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions what percentage of the total workforce in his Department is of ethnic346W minority origin; and what steps he is taking to encourage the employment of people from the ethnic minorities in his Department. [102740]
§ Ms Beverley HughesMy right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office set out in her reply given on 16 December 1999,Official Report, column 264W, corporate action that we are taking to encourage the employment of people from ethnic minority backgrounds. A total of 5.2 per cent. of the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions current workforce (including its Agencies) are from an ethnic minority.
My Department is taking a number of measures to increase the representation of people from an ethnic minority background. We have participated in the Windsor Fellowship, Diversity UK, Afro-Caribbean and National Mentoring Careers Fairs aimed at encouraging ethnic minority undergraduates to consider a career in the Department. We have taken on ethnic minority students on Windsor Fellowship summer placements for a number of years and plan to increase the number of placements from two to six next year. We also want to bring in senior and professional people from the ethnic minorities on secondment. In addition to this, we advertise in Job Centres and newspapers with a large ethnic minority readership, for example The Voice and The Eastern Eye, to attract potential ethnic minority recruits.