§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will set up a special discrimination section within the industrial tribunal system in respect of cases involving race relations; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. ForthI have no plans to do so. Industrial tribunals hearing cases of racial discrimination have a special race member with knowledge or experience of relations between persons of different racial groups in the employment field and this system is working satisfactorily.
§ Mr. RedmondTo ask the Secretary of State for Employment if he will bring forward proposals for legislation to make ethnic record-keeping and monitoring obligatory by employers; and if he will make a statement.
Mr. JacksonThe Government fully support the practice of ethnic monitoring in employment but believes that the voluntary approach is the best way forward in this area. Ethnic monitoring makes good business sense by helping employers to assess whether their personnel practices and procedures are providing equality of opportunity for all, irrespective of race.
The Commission for Racial Equality's code of practice on employment which recommends ethnic monitoring by employers recognises that the need for detailed information, and the methods of collecting it, will vary according to the circumstances of individual establishments. It must therefore be for individual employers to adopt the method of monitoring that is best suited to their needs and circumstances.