§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what were the results of the survey of the ethnic origins of staff in the Scottish Office and associated Departments, recently completed by his Department;
(2) what new action he has decided to take, having reviewed the results of the survey of the ethnic origins of staff, which his Department recently completed.
§ Mr. RifkindIn the voluntary survey of the ethnic origins of staff 99.6 per cent. of respondents classified themselves as 'white', 0.3 per cent. as `asian' and 0.1 per cent. as 'black'. The survey achieved a response rate of 88 per cent. The results of the survey are presently being evaluated and will be borne in mind by my Department in future action on equal opportunities.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he carries out ethnic monitoring of applicants for posts, in accordance with the codes of the Equal Opportunities Commission and of the Commission for Racial Equality respectively.
§ Mr. RifkindMost of my Department's recruitment is undertaken on its behalf by the Civil Service Commission and the Board of Inland Revenue, both of which have introduced ethnic monitoring as part of their recruitment procedure. For recruitment carried out by the Department itself, ethnic monitoring will be introduced in the autumn.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has carried out a survey of women in his Department in accordance with the code of the Equal Opportunities Commission.
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§ Mr. RifkindNo. My Department already maintains statistics which enable it to conduct the kind of monitoring recommended by the Equal Opportunities Commission's code of practice.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he has appointed an equal opportunities officer; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. RifkindAn equal opportunities officer was appointed in 1984. All staff were informed of the appointment by means of an office notice and each new entrant is given updated information.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many and what percentage of officers in each grade and overall in his Department are(a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities, respectively.
§ Mr. RifkindFigures for each of the very large number of grades in the Department could be given only at disproportionate cost. However, the figures for the numbers and percentage of women in each of the main grades are as set out. Figures for the number and percentage of people from ethnic minorities cannot be given without risking the identification of individual members of staff since the numbers in individual grades are very small.
Number of women Women Percentage Unified Grade 1 — 0.00 Unified Grade 2 — 0.00 Unified Grade 3 1 4.17 Unified Grade 4 — 0.00 Unified Grade 5 8 6.96 Unified Grade 6 20 11.30 Unified Grade 7 37 10.91 Senior Executive Officer 26 13.76 Higher Executive Officer 171 27.49 Executive Officer 433 54.74 Administrative Officer 750 67.45 Administrative Assistant 600 66.30 Professional, Scientific and Technical Grades 293 18.59 Industrial Grades 35 5.45 Other Grades 831 70.36 All Grades 3,205 41.46
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what steps he has taken to ensure that there is equality of opportunity for women and for people from ethnic minorities in all grades of his Department, in connection with employment, training arid promotion, respectively.
§ Mr. RifkindMy Department has circulated to all staff the Civil Service policy statements on race relations and equal opportunities for men and women to ensure that all staff are aware that discrimination will not be tolerated. All new entrants also receive copies. An equal opportunities officer has been appointed. A joint management and trade union side committee has been set up on the implementation of the recommendations of the Civil Service programme of action on women; substantial progress is being made on implementation and as appropriate action under the programme has also been 655W applied to ethnic minorities. An ethnic survey of existing staff has been carried out and ethnic monitoring will be extended to cover all recruitment in the autumn.
My Department keeps under review the need for further action on all issues affecting equality of opportunity.