§ Ms. Richardsonasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 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 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 departmental training officers and equal opportunities officers to promote the use of section 47 of the Sex Discrimination Act and (f) what action has been taken to facilitate job share, part-time working and parental leave.
§ Mr. StanleyEquality of opportunity for Northern Ireland civil servants in the Northern Ireland Office and the Northern Ireland Departments is the responsibility of an equal opportunities unit within the Department of Finance and Personnel. For the much smaller group of Home civil servants in the Northern Ireland Office, responsibility lies with the establishment division in London.
Taking each of the elements (a) to (f) in the hon. Member's question in turn:
- (a) The equal opportunities unit of the Northern Ireland Civil Service has a staff of seven full-time officers and one part-time officer headed by a grade 7 officer (principal). The Home Civil Service has one equal opportunities officer who is a senior executive officer and spends a small but varying amount of his/her time on equal opportunities duties.
- (b) The other duties carried out by NICS staff of the equal opportunities unit are negligible. The duties of the HCS equal opportunities officer include a range of personnel management policy issues.
- (c) As far as the NICS is concerned, this information is not readily available in the form requested. In addition to the eight staff of the equal opportunities unit many other officers throughout the NICS have a responsibility for equal opportunities as part of other duties and the unit is also supported in its analytical work by other specialist staff within the Department of Finance and Personnel. Since the HCS equal opportunities officer undertakes that role in conjunction with a number of other duties, it is similarly difficult to quantify the budgetary implications.
- (d) Equal opportunities are frequently the subject of consideration at inter-departmental meetings of
350 Personnel Officers of the NICS. The HCS equal opportunities officer normally meets his/her counterparts at least once a year. - (e) The training branch within the Department of Finance and Personnel, in association with the equal opportunities unit, is reviewing its policy on single sex training for women. This has involved the use of a questionnaire together with a number of pilot courses. The departmental training officer and equal opportunities officer in the HCS are ready to promote the use of section 47 where appropriate.
- (f)Formal guidance in respect of part-time working and job sharing arrangements recently agreed with trade unions has been circulated widely throughout the NICS. Each application for parental leave is considered on its merits under the special leave provisions which are widely known throughout the NICS. The Civil Service policy statements on equal opportunities have been circulated to HCS staff. Officers are free to apply for job sharing, part-time working and parental leave and any such applications are considered sympathetically. The HCS equal opportunities officer is also in the process of producing a guide on equal opportunities' policies and practices. This will be issued to all staff.
§ Dr. Twinnasked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action he proposes to take to follow up the publication of the consultative paper, "Equality of Opportunity in Employment in Northern Ireland.'
§ Mr. Tom King[pursuant to his reply, 15 July 1987, c. 490–1]The chairman of the Standing Advisory Commission on Human Rights submitted the commission's "Report on Fair Employment" to me on 30 September. It forms part of a major review by the commission of the laws and institutions dealing with religious and political discrimination and equality of opportunity in Northern Ireland. The report is being published today as a Command Paper (Cm. 237). A study on "Equality and Inequality in Northern Ireland", undertaken by the Policy Studies Institute as part of the commission's review, is also being published today and I have arranged for copies to be placed in the Library.
I am grateful to the commission for the work which has gone into its detailed report, which will be of great value to the Government. We shall be taking the report's recommendations into account in framing our detailed proposals for new legislation on fair employment. We are firmly committed to ensuring equality of opportunity in employment for everyone in Northern Ireland whatever their religious background.