Crown Prosecution Service (Hansard, 5 July 2001)

§ 42. Mr. Dhanda
To ask the Solicitor-General what policies she has for tackling racism and promoting equality in the Crown Prosecution Service. [916]

§ The Solicitor-General
The Crown Prosecution Service is committed to ensuring that it does not discriminate as an employer or as a prosecutor.
The CPS has undertaken a series of initiatives to address discrimination and change the culture of the organisation. An Equality and Diversity Unit has been established to ensure that the CPS equality statement is implemented. A training programme in equality and diversity, with emphasis on racial equality, is under way and by March 2002 all staff will be trained.
A new range of initiatives undertaken by the CPS internally include a "dignity at work" campaign, aimed at ensuring that cultural diversity is valued. The CPS has developed positive act ion training for minority ethnic staff in areas where they are under-represented. The CPS is also seeking to engage with local minority ethnic communities and leaflets in 12 languages explaining the work of the CPS have been distributed. New guidance has also been provided to prosecutors on their responsibilities under the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000.
The CPS is also examining the findings of the Denman report into race discrimination in the CPS. The CPS hopes to co-ordinate a response to the Denman report together with the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) report into the CPS Croydon branch.

§ 43. Mr. Dismore
To ask the Solicitor-General if she will make a statement on progress of the inquiry by Ms Denman into racism in the Crown Prosecution Service. [917]

§ The Solicitor-General
Sylvia Denman has recently completed her inquiry and her report has been delivered to the Crown Prosecution Service. It is hoped to co-ordinate publication of the report together with the findings of the Commission for Racial Equality in relation to their investigation of the CPS Croydon branch. This would enable the Crown Prosecution Service to take a coherent and comprehensive approach to its race equality work.