§ Mr. CohenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what steps his Department takes to implement its equal opportunities employment policy; how many persons of ethnic minority origins are employed in his Department; what proportion that is of the total; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. SainsburyAn action plan has been developed to promote equal opportunities within the Ministry of Defence. Examples of actions taken or in hand are a trial to determine the demand for job-sharing and part-time working; women-only training courses; a survey of the ethnic origins of staff and applicants for employment; the placing of recruitment advertisements in the ethnic press; and initiatives to help people with disabilities. The voluntary survey of the ethnic origins of staff has not yet been completed. To date, of the 43,603 non-industrial staff who have so far responded, 834 or 2 per cent. were from ethnic minorities.