§ Sandra GidleyTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development if she has established a baseline for policy appraisal against which to measure progress on equal treatment; and what progress has been made. [54829]
§ Clare ShortDFID is committed to a policy of equal treatment. In relation to DFID's role as an employer, we have adopted a Diversity Action Plan, put in place staff consultative groups to assist in promoting diversity in the Department, undertaken equality-proofing of our pay and appraisal systems, implemented positive action measures in the form of a bursary scheme for staff from ethnic minority backgrounds, and have published targets for improving representativeness of our staffing in respect of race, gender and disability. We are implementing diversity training as part of our management development programmes, have adopted a requirement for all senior staff to have a diversity component in their personal objectives, and have continued to insist on the application of an equal opportunities policy in respect of a wide range of other criteria (including age and sexual orientation) in all aspects of our employment policies.
289WThese initiatives, which represent only the key measures in a wide range of on-going actions on equal treatment, will be monitored and reported on in our 2002 departmental report and other systems including the Department's Service Delivery Agreement. It is not easily possible to summarise progress to date in terms of the impact of these initiatives. But the policy is one of continuous improvement and in October (in advance of the operative date of the EU equal treatment directive) the Department expects to implement a new personnel database system which will provide important baseline data against which overall progress can be measured in more quantitative terms thereafter.
In terms of our work to eliminate poverty, we work through our programmes and at the international level to address discrimination in legislation, policies and society so that excluded people have more control over their lives. Our work in this regard is set out in our strategy papers: "Realising Human Rights for poor people" and "Poverty elimination and the empowerment of women". These are available at www.dfid.gov.uk or through our public inquiry point, tel. 01355 843132. The empowerment of women is an essential precondition for the elimination of world poverty. This goal is recognised in the internationally agreed set of development targets which provide the core framework for DFID' s programme. Related to these, we have a number of gender equity targets in our Public Service Agreement. Progress against these is set out in our 2002 departmental report.
§ Sandra GidleyTo ask the Secretary of State for International Development what new data series separated by gender, race, disability and age have been commissioned by her Department since August 1997. [54830]
§ Clare ShortDFID does not maintain any central record of data series in respect of its programme activities. As an employer, DFID maintains and analyses for internal purposes a range of human resources data on its staff, including gender, ethnic origin, disability and age. Since August 1997 this has been expanded to include analysis of our staff appraisal and promotion systems by, among other things, gender, ethnic origin, disability and age. The principal indicators, such as staff in post, are contained in DFID' s departmental report 2002, a copy of which can be found in the House of Commons Library.