§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is (a) the proportion of working time allocated to his departmental equal opportunities officer for equal opportunities duties, (b) the other duties carried out by the departmental equal opportunities officer, (c) the proportion, and the amount, of the departmental budget which is allocated to equal opportunities work, (d) the number of occasions when the departmental equal opportunities officer meets equal opportunities officers from other Government Departments each year, (e) the guidelines issued to his departmental training officers and equal opportunities officers to promote the use of section 47 of the Sex Discrimination Act, and (f) the action taken to facilitate jobshare, part-time working and parental leave.
§ Mrs. RumboldThe departmental equal opportunity officer spends about 25 per cent. of her time on work relating to equal opportunities. The equal opportunity officer is also the departmental disabled persons officer, and has other personnel management responsibilities including the management of the Department's pay budget. No specific part of the departmental budget is allocated to equal opportunities.
The equal opportunity officer meets her counterparts in other Departments at the annual meeting arranged by the office of the Minister for the Civil Service, and on other occasions throughout the year. No specific guidelines have been issued to the officer, or to the departmental training officer, on the operation of section 47 of the Sex Discrimination Act. All requests for part-time work or job-sharing are considered sympathetically. Special leave may be granted to enable staff to cope with domestic problems.