§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Minister for the Civil Service what has been the percentage increase in recruitment of (a) blacks and (b) Asians to the Civil Service over the most recent period for which figures are available.
§ Mr. LuceThe collection of data about the ethnic origin of applicants and recruits to the Civil Service began only in 1986. It is not yet possible therefore to say whether there has been an increase in recruitment from the ethnic minorities.
§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will institute an urgent project for setting specific recruitment targets in the Civil Service for blacks and Asians.
§ Mr. LuceRecruitment to the Civil Service is conducted on the basis of fair and open competition and selection on 879W merit. The Government would welcome an increase in applications from suitably qualified people from the ethnic minorities and a number of steps are being taken to encourage this, including strengthening schools liaison, use of the ethnic press and outreach work to make more direct contacts with minority communities. The results of ethnic monitoring will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of these measures and to assess the fairness of selection procedures between candidates. The Government will be considering in the light of monitoring experience what other specific actions would add significantly to the effectiveness of its equal opportunity policy.
The Manpower Services Commission has adopted, an action plan to encourage the recruitment of ethnic minority staff. The plan involves the use of statistics of the working population in the locality as one target against which managers can measure their success in recruiting suitably qualified staff from the ethnic minorities. These targets are not fixed quotas, which are unlawful, but they do provide a measure of progress and a focus for identifying where outreach to particular communities is needed. The Manpower Services Commission's experience will be evaluated to see what impact this initiative is having.
§ Mrs. Dunwoodyasked the Minister for the Civil Service if he will list the measures used for monitoring the recruitment of blacks and Asians to the Civil Service.
§ Mr. LuceSince February 1986 the Civil Service Commission has been asking candidates for executive officer who sit the written qualifying test to complete a
1982 1983 1984 1985 11986 (a) Persons assisted Telephone installation 33 46 23 18 22 Telephone attachments3 — — — — 23 Telephone rental 205 179 218 190 199 Television supply 0 0 0 0 0 Television licence 0 0 0 0 0 Radio supply 0 0 0 0 0 Other personal aids 1,789 2,129 3,776 4,125 4,219 Assistance with holidays 290 275 0 0 0 (b) Places provided Places for the mentally ill at Day centres2 30 60 0 0 60 1 Provisional. 2 Day centres are classified according to the main group attending. 3 Information not collected before 1986.