§ Mr. Jannerasked the Solicitor-General for Scotland what steps the Lord Advocate has taken, since the coming into effect of the code of the Commission for Racial Equality on 1 April, to ensure compliance by the Lord Advocate's Department and, in particular, with the recommendations in respect of ethnic monitoring and of positive action, respectively.
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§ The Solicitor-General for ScotlandMy Department's policies were reviewed before CRE's code of practice became operative, and additional guidance and instructions have been issued. An equal opportunities officer has also been designated within the Department. We have not carried out any ethnic monitoring. We shall consider further action once the results of surveys in the north-west and Avon announced by my hon. Friend the Minister of State, Treasury, in the House on 24 March 1983, at column 465, have been evaluated. The kind of positive action the code recommends can only be undertaken where under-representation can be demonstrated.