Equal Opportunities (Hansard, 25 July 1988)

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster what is the ethnic classification and gender of the equal opportunity officer working in his Department.

§ Mr. Butcher
The equal opportunity officer is male. It is DTI policy not to reveal the ethnic classification of individual members of staff.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster by whom information on equal opportunities has been and is being collected on behalf of his Department; when and by whom it will be analysed to see whether any further action is necessary; and when he expects that analysis to be completed.

§ Mr. Butcher
Information is collected by the DTI's equal opportunities officer. The information is or will be subject to various forms of analysis in agreement with the departmental trade union side by the equal opportunity officer, the personnel management division of DTI, and the office of the Minister for the Civil Service. The time scales will differ as I have indicated in replies to other questions from the hon. and learned Member.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether the provision for monitoring ethnic origin in respect of recruitment, promotion, career development and training, respectively, are now in hand or proposed, respectively.

§ Mr. Butcher
As part of a review conducted by the office of the Minister for the Civil Service, ethnic origin information has been collected since 1 September 1987 at various stages of our recruitment process; arrangements are proposed to monitor a promotion board before April 1989; arrangements are in hand to monitor the postings aspect of career development in three divisions; and two training courses at executive officer level are being monitored for the calendar year 1988.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in what quasi-governmental bodies or other organisations under its aegis he has authority to request or require the carrying out of ethnic monitoring exercises in accordance with the code of the Commission for Racial Equality; and what ethnic monitoring and equal opportunities exercises have been carried out by each such Department.

§ Mr. Butcher
Non-departmental public bodies and other bodies sponsored by DTI are responsible for arrangements for recruitment and personnel management of staff they employ. Bodies are encouraged to be equal opportunities employers, and to pursue practices in the codes of the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission. No central records are held of ethnic monitoring and equal opportunities exercises carried out by these bodies.