§ Mr. WinnickTo ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission, how many House of Commons Clerks have been appointed in the last five years, indicating the number and percentage broken down by(a) gender and (b) ethnic origin. [104532]
§ Mr. Kirkwood[holding answer 13 January 2000]: Since the beginning of 1995, there have been 17 external recruits to the grade of Assistant Clerk and Senior Clerk, including faststream entrants, in the Department of the Clerk of the House. The table sets out the breakdown.
Year Number of Assistant and Senior Clerks recruited Male Female 1995 2 0 2 1996 3 2 1 1997 4 2 2 1998 6 4 2 1999 2 1 1 Total 17 19 28 1 53 per cent. 2 47 per cent. Approximately 80 per cent. of these recruits have declared their ethnic origin. All of those who did so are white.