§ Keith VazTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what steps he is taking to bring the number of employees from ethnic minority backgrounds in(a) the Police Service and (b) the judiciary into line with ethnic breakdown of the population in Britain. [171081]
§ Ms BlearsThe Government are committed to achieving a culturally diverse workforce in the police service that is representative of the local communities it serves. We are engaged with the leadership of the police service in addressing diversity and promoting race equality in the areas of recruitment, training and development.
562WWe are pursuing a number of positive initiatives to improve representation in the police service. We have introduced national recruitment, assessment and selection processes that are fair and transparent and designed to weed out applicants with racist attitudes. Within this, we are encouraging, for example, all forces to use members of their minority communities as assessors in their selection processes.
In January we launched a new action plan "Breaking Through—Promoting Minority Ethnic Employment in the Police Service" to help forces focus on steps to improve recruitment, retention and progression of ethnic minorities.
We have recently conducted advertising aimed at ethnic minorities and have produced a new ethnic minority recruitment leaflet for forces. Our relaunched police recruitment website encourages applications from ethnic minorities and women.
In terms of the Judiciary, my right hon. noble and learned Friend, the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor has introduced a bill to create a new, independent, Judicial Appointments Commission which will inspire a more diverse range of applicants through a more open, transparent and accessible system. The Department is also examining whether other barriers exist to deter applicants from minority groups, while continuing to run its comprehensive outreach programme.