§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer 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 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 job share, part-time working and parental leave.
§ Mr. BrookeThe departmental equal opportunities officer reports to the principal establishment officer. In addition to work on equal opportunities, for which no fixed proportion of the time is allocated, there are other duties, including policy on personnel management. The officer attends the annual meeting of departmental equal opportunities officers, and meets them frequently on other occasions throughout the year. No specific part of the departmental budget is allocated to equal opportunities.
No guidelines have been issued, either to departmental training officers or to departmental equal opportunities officers, on the operation of section 47 of the Sex Discrimination Act.
All personnel managers in my Department are encouraged to identify opportunities for job sharing and part-time working. Individual requests are dealt with sympathetically, taking into account the working needs of the Department. The Department offers maternity leave. Requests for special leave caused by domestic emergencies are considered on an individual basis.