HC Deb 01 April 2004 vol 419 cc1623-4W
Ms Abbott

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the value is of the contracts awarded to(a) At Work (Talent) North London and (b) Reed in Partnership in North London in connection with the Ethnic Minority Outreach Programme; what targets were agreed when the contracts were awarded; and how many people (i) have been helped into work and (ii) have achieved other job outcomes as a result of those contracts, broken down by ethnic background. [162311]

Maria Eagle

The Ethnic Minority Outreach service, launched in April 2002, was introduced to engage with jobless ethnic minority people who were not regular users of Jobcentre Plus services, and help them compete more effectively in the labour market.

Targets were agreed with providers for a range of outcomes including job entries and work related training. Contracts and targets vary according to the particular barriers faced by the local ethnic minority community and the type of provision supplied.

At Work (Talent) North London and Reed in Partnership North London have been awarded contracts to the value of £240,970 and £294,850 respectively to deliver Ethnic Minority Outreach provision over the period April 2002 to March 2004.

Information on numbers helped into work through the Ethnic Minority Outreach service provided by At Work (Talent) North London and Reed in Partnership in North London, broken down by ethnic background, is in the table.

Job entries through Ethnic Minority Outreach provision1
Ethnic background At Work (Talent) North London Reed in Partnership North London
Not disclosed [...]>5 12
British [...]>5 [...]>5
Irish [...]>5 [...]>5
Other White 18 [...]>5
White and Black Caribbean 6 [...]>5
White and Black African 9 [...]>5
White and Asian [...]>5 [...]>5
Other Mixed [...]>5 [...]>5
Indian 8 [...]>5
Pakistani 10 [...]>5
Bangladeshi 7 [...]>5
Other Asian 7 [...]>5
Black Caribbean 38 39
Black African 52 102
Other Black 10 [...]>5
Chinese [...]>5 [...]>5
Other ethnic group [...]>5 [...]>5
Total 181 169
1 All information is to the end of February 2004. Where >5 is indicated, less than five customers from these backgrounds gained jobs. The exact figure is not given to preserve customer anonymity. Job entries through Ethnic Minority Outreach.

Source: Department for Work and Pensions.

Minority Ethnic Outreach targets for At Work (Talent) North London and Reed in Partnership in North London are in the table.

Target At Work (Talent) North London Reed in Partnership North London
Registration with Jobcentre Plus 160 155
Starts on New Deal 160 60
Job Outcomes 291 140
Registration with Talent Intermediary Service 800 Not applicable
Engagement with employers to promote the benefits of diversity 182 Not applicable

Source: Department for Work and Pensions

Bob Spink

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what action he is taking to increase the number of ethnic minority employees within his Department. [163552]

Maria Eagle

The latest figures for February 2004 show that the Department now employs 7.5 per cent. staff from an ethnic minority against the figure of 6.8 per cent. for the UK's economically active population.

Several initiatives are in place to help us to increase further the proportion of our staff from ethnic backgrounds, these include a new recruitment system introduced in December 2002 which is designed to be inclusive, increasing external recruitment into the Senior Civil Service to give us benefits from a wider range of candidates, development of a checklist of recruitment best practice which will enable recruitment at all grades from the widest possible pool, and a pilot of new methods of recruitment to our non-departmental public bodies. This will be: based on outreach, marketing and support for applicants.