§ Mr. Corbynasked the Secretary of State for Employment if he will place in the Library the results of the pilot ethnic monitoring schemes his Department has carried out.
§ Mr. Alan ClarkI think it preferable that these results be 'published in theOfficial Report.
The tests were run for four weeks during February and March 1982 at 14 selected UBOs.
Two methods were used.
The first involved UBO staff asking claimants whose appearance or speech suggested they might belong to a minority group, to identify their ethnic origin from a card 99W which listed ethnic minority groups. The second method involved a visual assessment of ethnic origin by benefit staff.
For the card method, there was a refusal rate of 33.7 per cent. As a result the seven UBOs applying this method identified 22 per cent. fewer ethnic minority unemployed than the corresponding jobcentres. For the visual assessment method, there was a refusal rate of 1.2 per cent. In this case, the seven UBOs involved identified 5.5 per cent. fewer members of ethnic minority unemployed than the corresponding jobcentres.