HC Deb 05 March 1990 vol 168 cc487-90W
Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what proportion of Agricultural Development Advisory Service staff are women.

Mr. Curry

The proportion of women in the Ministry's Agricultural Development Advisory Service is currently 31 per cent.

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what steps he has taken to encourage women to use his Department's sponsored training courses.

Mr. Curry

All courses provided by my Department are fully publicised to women staff; we also run specific courses for women managers to help them develop their personal effectiveness. Additionally, to encourage women with young families, any extra child care expenses incurred as a result of attending a training course, may be reclaimed.

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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. Curry

All initial and middle management training courses run by my Department include sessions on equal opportunities for women. Training for staff at grade six level and above is more individually structured and staff are encouraged to undertake training in a range of competencies, including equal opportunities for women, but separate statistics are not available.

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what child care provision his Department provides for pre-school age children of employees; what childcare 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. Curry

I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave to the hon. Member for Don Valley (Mr. Redmond) on 31 January (Official Report, column 236). Once the results of the studies mentioned are available, consideration will be given to the matter of funding. School holiday play schemes for children aged over five years have been operating at Guildford since 1988 and at Leeds since last year, the latter scheme being run in partnership with the DSS and PSA. A further scheme will be introduced at the central veterinary laboratory, Weybridge, this summer. Discussions are currently in progress on the possibility of introducing a play scheme at Tolworth, in co-operation with other Government Departments in the area. Pump-priming funds have been available and continue to be available for such schemes.

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what grade is his Department's equal opportunities officer.

Mr. Curry

Grade five.

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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. Curry

The percentage of women in the following grades and grade equivalents as at 28 February 1990 is as follows:

Women as percentage of total staff in grade
Grade Per cent.
7 12
6 9
5 8
4 —
3 8
2 —
1 —

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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. Curry

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.

Mr. Morley

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food 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. Curry

The Department is directly responsible for the recruitment of staff up to and including administrative officer and equivalent grades and the departmental grade of fishery officer. Selection panels are instructed on the need to guard against any form of discrimination. Selection criteria based, for example, on sex, are strictly forbidden as are criteria which might discriminate on age grounds against mature students or women returning to work after a career break. Age limits and qualification requirements for departmental grades which are recruited by the Civil Service Commission on our behalf are currently under review with the aim of ensuring that no unnecessary restrictions are placed on eligibility to apply to work in the Department.

A domestic absence reinstatement scheme, designed to give staff who resign for domestic reasons preferential consideration for reinstatement and encouragement to rejoin my Department when they are ready to return to work, was introduced in October 1988. Formal arrangements governing part-time working and job sharing were introduced in December 1989. These are intended to promote and expand the opportunities available in the Department for those who wish to work reduced hours.

Those responsible for assessing staff for promotion are regularly reminded of the need to assess staff who work reduced hours on exactly the same basis as all other staff, without regard to their status as part-timers or job-sharers. Officers recommended for promotion, who take maternity leave before they are posted to a higher grade, may have the validity of their promotion recommendations extended, normally for up to one year, to cover their period of absence.

Proposed new arrangements for promotion are currently under discussion with the Department's trade union side. These will remove seniority, which may indirectly discriminate against those who take career breaks, from promotion procedures. They will also ensure that staff approaching retiring age remain eligible for consideration for promotion until they reach the normal retiring age of the higher grade. I hope these new arrangements will be in place by 1 January 1991.

The Department also monitors recruitment competitions, promotions and allocations to duties with the aim of ensuring that there is no discrimination against women.