§ Mr. MallonTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will give details of(a) the future work programme of the equal opportunities unit of the Northern Ireland civil service, in relation to the representation of (i) females and (ii) Catholics in the higher grades of the Northern Ireland civil service and (b) the timetable for the introduction and implementation of this programme of action.
§ Mr. Cope[holding answer 16 July 1990]: The future work programme of the equal opportunities unit of the Northern Ireland civil service is multi-faceted. It ranges from the essential maintenance and development of its computer monitoring system, through analysis of recruitment and promotion competitions to researching ways and means of dealing with specific issues such as the adverse impact of recruitment selection procedures and the low level of representation of females and of Roman Catholics in the higher grades of the service.
As I indicated in my reply to a previous question on 18 April, Vol. 170, col. 879, the level of representation of females and Roman Catholics in the higher grades is being treated as a priority issue at senior level within the service. Consideration of this matter, assisted by discussions with the Fair Employment Commission and the Equal Opportunities Commission, has produced a number of ideas which require further work to assess whether they should be included in the equal opportunities work programme. I am thus unable now to give details either in terms of content or time scale. An account of this work, as it develops, will continue to be given in the regular reports of the equal opportunities unit.
In the meantime, the encouraging trend of increased Roman Catholic representation in the higher grades, to which I referred in my earlier response, continues. The proportion of Roman Catholics at assistant secretary level and above in the general service is now 15.1 per cent. (21 out of 139) compared with 12.3 per cent. in January 1989 and 5.9 per cent. in January 1985.