HC Deb 05 March 1990 vol 168 cc484-5W
Mr. Boateng

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many of his Department's management training courses include sessions on equal opportunities for women; and what proportion of managers at grade six level and above working outside headquarters has received training on equal opportunities for women.

Mr. Ryder

All management training courses run by my Department include sessions on equal opportunities and it is Treasury policy that staff with management responsibilities, including those outside headquarters, receive appropriate training.

Mr. Boateng

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what child care provision his Department provides for pre-school age children of employees; what child care provision for school holidays or after-school care is provided for employees' children aged five years or over; what plans there are for increasing provision in the next five years; and how these are to be funded.

Mr. Ryder

Children of staff in Her Majesty's Treasury between the ages of five and 12 have access to a holiday play scheme that is organised by the Westminster Play Association. The scheme is run in the Treasury building and is available to a number of Whitehall Departments.

Consideration is being given to other child care schemes for which funding arrangements would need to be contained within overall running cost provision.

Mr. Boateng

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what grade is his Department's equal opportunities officer.

Mr. Ryder

Grade seven.

Mr. Boateng

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what measures he has implemented to ensure that recruitment and promotion policy in his Department does not directly or indirectly discriminate against applicants who were mature students or women returning to work following a career-break due to child care.

Mr. Ryder

As an equal opportunities employer, mature students and women who return to work are treated in exactly the same way as anyone else within the Treasury's recruitment and promotion policy.

Mr. Boateng

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what proportion of civil servants in his Department are women at each of the grades(a) seven, (b) six, (c) five, (d) four, (e) three, (f) two and (g) one.

Mr. Ryder

For Her Majesty's Treasury the information is as follows:

  1. (a) 17.4 per cent.;
  2. (b) 5.9 per cent.;
  3. (c) 12.8 per cent.;
  4. (d) none;
  5. (e) 18.5 per cent.;
  6. (f) none;
  7. (g) none.

Mr. Boateng

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action he has taken, and what action he intends taking, to implement the recommendations within his area of responsibility of the European Commission's childcare network report "Caring for Children—Services and Policies for Childcare and Equal Opportunities in the United Kingdom".

Mr. Ryder

The report was prepared for the European Commission, which has not yet developed any proposals. The Government believe that policy on child care is a matter for member states. The United Kingdom's policy is that it is for families themselves to determine how their children are to be brought up and how parents, who wish to do so, can best combine paid work and family responsibilities. The Government, through the Department of Health and the ministerial group on women's issues, have encouraged the development of a range of high quality child care options for both parents and employers.