Race and Sex Monitoring (Hansard, 20 April 1988)

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will institute an inquiry to seek detailed information on the full extent of race and sex monitoring in the workplace.

§ Mr. Nicholls
No. To institute such an inquiry would have considerable resource implications and impose additional burdens on employers.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment how many and what percentage of the 374 major private sector employers visited by the Department of Employment's race relations advisory service(a) have introduced ethnic monitoring and (b) are actively considering the introduction of ethnic monitoring; and if he will place a list of such employers in the Library.

§ Mr. Nicholls
Of the 374 major private sector employers visited in the period April 1985 to December 1987, 79 had introduced ethnic monitoring and 47 were actively considering the introduction of ethnic monitoring. I cannot place a list of these employers in the Library for the reasons I gave to the hon. Member in my reply of 18 April 1988, at column319.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will issue a circular to major employers in the private sector, requesting them to comply with the codes of the Commission for Racial Equality and of the Equal Opportunities Commission, in respect of monitoring and positive action.

§ Mr. Nicholls
An initiative of this kind would be more appropriate for the commissions to undertake. The Government encourage the adoption of the recommendations in the CRE and EOC codes of practice, including those relating to monitoring and positive action. This Department's race relations employment advisory service is at the present time giving particular publicity to the positive action provisions within the Race Relations Act and is encouraging employers to use them whenever appropriate. It will also be supporting the CRE's forthcoming campaign to promote its code of practice.