§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what action he has taken to remedy past inequalities in employment practices in his Department, in compliance with the codes of the Commission for Racial Equality and the Equal Opportunities Commission, respectively.
§ Mrs. CurrieThe Department has adopted a programme of action in support of its equal opportunity policy including the following measures to promote positive action to assist women and ethnic minority staff
Monitoring of recruitment has been introduced and managers are encouraged to utilise all possible advertising outlets to attract in particular applicants from ethnic minority groups, for example, through use of ethnic minority press and radio. youth clubs and local ethnic employment groups.The Department participates in the Civil Service Commission's advertising campaign which aims to recruit staff from ethnic minority groups; and in the commission's national schools liaison network, as well as a continued commitment to schools liaison at a local level.Promotion board monitoring studies, to identify harriers to the success of women and those from ethnic minority groups, are being carried out.Specific developmental training for women from HEO grade and above is provided. The Department is reviewing the development of equal opportunity training for all grades including the nature and delivery of the training.Job sharing and part time working is encouraged and publicised in departmental training for women in management grades.A "keeping in touch" scheme was introduced on 1 June 1988 which will enable officers to maintain regular contact with the Department whilst taking career breaks for domestic reasons and assist in their eventual return to work.On the wider front, as part of our equal opportunities initiatives we commissioned Isobel Allen's research study on women doctors, "Doctors and their Careers" recently published by the Policy Studies Institute. This compares the career patterns of male and female doctors. We will be discussing the findings with the medical profession and others involved in the training and development of doctors at two seminars in July and November, and will take such Further action as is indicated.