Equal Opportunities (Hansard, 27 July 1988)

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of the part-time members of staff and 21 sets of job sharers employed in his Department are women; and how many and what percentage are from ethnic minorities.

§ Mr. Hurd
There are 1,213 part-time members of staff in the Home Office, of whom 953 (78.6 per cent.) are women. All 21 sets of job sharers are women. Of the part-time staff who responded to the ethnic surveys, 26 (3 per cent.) described themselves as members of an ethnic minority.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many and what percentage of the members of staff in his Department who are on flexible working hours are women and from ethnic minorities, respectively.

§ Mr. Hurd
The information requested is not available centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what details of his equal opportunities policies related to staff were given to the National Association of Community Relations Councils and when; and whether he will place a copy of the document containing such details in the Library.

§ Mr. Hurd
Information about the equal opportunities policy was given orally to the National Association of Community Relations Councils at a meeting at the Immigration and Nationality Department in January. A representative of the NACRC has since visited IND and has discussed a number of subjects, including our equal opportunities policy.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which members of ethnic minorities have addressed internal training courses in his Department; and when.

§ Mr. Hurd
Records of individuals who have addressed training events are not kept in a way which identifies their ethnic origins. However, over the past 12 months, more than 20 courses or seminars are believed to have been addressed by ethnic minority speakers from outside the Department. More than that have been addressed by ethnic minority members of staff but only a minority of them in connection with equal opportunities.
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§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department in what quasi-governmental bodies or other organisations 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 exercises have been carried out by each such department.

§ Mr. Hurd
Those non-departmental public bodies and other organisations sponsored by the Home Office which are responsible for the recruitment and personnel management of the staff they employ are encouraged to be equal opportunities employers, and to pursue practices in accordance with the codes promulgated by 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 them. Those bodies which are staffed by Home Office personnel have been included in the Civil Service regional surveys.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the equal opportunities officer for the prison service and for the rest of his Department, respectively, is female or a member of an ethnic minority or both.

§ Mr. Hurd
The equal opportunities officer for the prison service is male; the others, for the rest of the Department, female. Both are white.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which advertisements have been placed by his Department in the ethnic or local press; and when.

§ Mr. Hurd
Over the past few years my Department has placed a range of advertisements, seeking clerical and specialist staff, immigration officers and prison officers, in papers likely to have a high ethnic minority readership.

§ Mr. Janner
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department by whom the continuous examination of recruitment, training and promotion is being carried out to see what further steps might usefully be taken to ensure equal opportunities; when formal meetings have been held in respect thereof; and where and with whom.

§ Mr. Hurd
Staff in the establishment department and prison department directorate of personnel and finance will continue to assess the results of the monitoring exercises and to consider, with others responsible for recruitment, the scope for further action. Meetings within the Home Office on the monitoring exercises have included discussion in the equal opportunities sub-committee of the departmental Whitley Council. Monitoring methods, the use of data, and action likely to promote equal opportunities, have also been discussed with other Departments, and at the joint working party on race relations.