HC Deb 21 March 1973 vol 853 cc122-8W
Mr. Bishop

asked the Minister for the Civil Service (1) what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service that, where a woman has elderly or infirm dependants or relatives, Departments should ensure that every effort is made to help her to cope with her domestic responsibilities and that unpaid leave should be available if the dependant or relative requires considerable attention; and what action he has taken;

(2)what consideration he has given tothe recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding reinstatement, that women who have children and who have had at least 20 years' experience should be able to take at least six months' and not more than 12 months' unpaid leave, at a time to be agreed with the Department; and what action he has taken;

(3)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding reinstatement, that applicants for reinstatement should not be required to state their intention to remain permanently in the Service and that rejection of an application for reinstatement to a specific grade should be made only at the level at which promotion to the grade concerned is confirmed; and what action he has taken;

(4)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service that women who resigned because of domestic responsibilities should not be debarred from reinstatement in grades up to and including the substantive grade held on resignation; and what action he has taken;

(5)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that on reinstatement previous service should be taken into account in all cases in determining conditions of service, in particular starting salary and promotion seniority; and if he will make a statement;

(6)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that Departments should, in consultation with the Civil Service Department, advise women who wish to prepare to return to work of the appropriate retraining and that as far as possible there should be flexible arrangements for the training of women who find it difficult to leave home to attend residential courses; and what action he has taken;

(7)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that Departments should examine the organisation of their work and consider what appropriate part-time work can be provided for serving or former women civil servants who are giving or have given satisfactory service, who are unable to work full-time because they have children to care for, but who wish to continue or resume work in the service; and what action he has taken;

(8)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that at least one nursery should be set up for an experimental period for the children of civil servants in an area other than London, fees should be fixed in relation to salary but with a maximum, and if the experiment proves to be of value other nurseries should be set up on a similar basis; and what action he has taken;

(9)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employ ment of Women in the Civil Service regarding part-time work, that Departments which have a substantial amount of case work or a high turnover of staff or a large amount of overtime or blocks of routine work should introduce part-time posts on an experimental basis; and what action he has taken;

(10)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that where work and staff holiday arrangements permit, Departments should consider sympathetically applications from women who have children at school for some unpaid leave during school holidays, particularly where the applicant has only the basic leave allowance; and what action he has taken;

(11)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding flexibility of hours, that Departments should encourage the use of discretion in arranging the hours of attendance of women with family responsibilities; and what action he has taken;

(12)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service concerning recruitment, that it should be open to both men and women to be considered for any job, and appointments should be solely on the grounds of suitability and qualifications; and what action he has taken;

(13)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding leave for urgent domestic affairs, that Departments should use more widely their discretion in granting both paid and unpaid special leave for urgent domestic affairs, and it should be unnecessary first to exhaust annual leave; and what action he has taken;

(14)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding annual leave, that Departments should review their annual leave arrangements to ensure that so far as possible married women are able to take annual leave at the same time as then- husbands; and what action he has taken;

(15)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that unpaid leave of up to three years should be available to a woman whose services her Department wishes to retain if she accompanies her husband on a move required by his employment to a place where she cannot continue her own employment in the Civil Service; and what action he has taken;

(16)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, regarding marriage gratuity, that women who now qualify for a marriage gratuity should, under the new superannuation scheme, qualify for either de ferred benefits or a short service gratuity; and what action he has taken;

(17)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding allowances, that all rules governing Civil Service allowances should be examined with the intention of removing any discrimination on the grounds of sex; and what action he has taken;

(18)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service regarding promotion, that wherever practicable Departments should arrange for promotion boards to consist of both men and women; and what action he has taken;

(19)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that recruitment literature should explain what provisions there are to assist women to combine a family with a career in the Service, and that Departments should ensure that full information is readily available to staff on the provi sions for maternity leave, paid and unpaid leave for special reasons, reinstatement, and retraining; and what action he has taken;

(20)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that there should be within two years of the report a review of progress on the operation of those recommenda tions which are accepted, and that the Civil Service Department should consider how progress can best be monitored in the meantime; and what action he has taken;

(21)what consideration he has given to the recommendation of the Report of the Departmental Committee on the Employment of Women in the Civil Service, that for established staff paid maternity leave should be increased to three months, and in addition Departments should continue to have discretion to grant further unpaid leave; and what action he has taken.

Mr. Kenneth Baker

Since the report was published a number of steps have been taken to implement its recommendations. As I announced on 15th November 1972—[Vol. 846, c. 162–6]—posts in more than 70 grades formerly restricted to one sex have been opened to both men and women. Allowances payable to civil servants no longer discriminate between men and women. The new pension scheme provides that women who now qualify for a marriage gratuity should in future qualify for either deferred pension benefits or a short service gratuity. The maternity leave allowance for women civil servants has been increased to a maximum of six months, which for established staff can include up to three months' paid leave.

An experimental nursery for the children of civil servants has been built at the Llanishen, Cardiff, offices of the Inland Revenue. We expect that it will open next month and it will in due course cater for 32 children during full office hours. The possibility of a second nursery as part of the experiment is still under consideration.

Steps have also been taken to implement a further group of recommendations. All Government Departments have been asked:

  1. (a)to examine the organisation of their work to determine which posts could be filled by officers working part-time and to consider sympathetic ally any requests for part-time work;
  2. (b)to introduce part-time posts on an experimental basis in areas where there is a substantial amount of case work, a high turnover of staff, or a large amount of overtime or routine work;
  3. (c)to ensure that managers of staff are encouraged to make full use of their discretion to arrange office hours to meet the needs of their staff, especially men and women with domestic responsibilities provided that the efficiency of their office is not undermined and that the staff work the appropriate number of hours;
  4. (d)to review their annual leave arrangements to see that as far as possible married officers can take annual leave at the same time as work ing wives or husbands, bearing in mind that children of school age further restrict the choice of leave periods;
  5. (e)to give sympathetic consideration to requests for special leave, both paid and unpaid, for a wide variety of domestic circumstances—for example. to cover the individual's need to cope with elderly or infirm dependants or relatives or children during the school holidays, or to accompany a wife or husband who is moved away from the former place of employment;
  6. (f) to provide flexible arrangements for retraining women who wish to prepare to return to work, and to advise them of the availability of such retraining.

As regards promotion boards and procedures, Departments have been asked to ensure that women are fully involved.

All these arrangements affecting women are being included in departmental staff handbooks available to all staff. Recruitment literature issued by the Civil Service Commission since the recommendations became known also contains a section on the employment of women, drawing attention to these measures to assist women to combine a family with a career in the service.

Discussions on the recommendations on reinstatement are still in progress with the staff side of the Civil Service National Whitley Council.

We propose to undertake a further review of progress early in 1974.