§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy what steps he has taken to recruit members of ethnic minorities in top grades of employment at his Department.
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§ Mr. WakehamRecruitment to senior grades is carried out by the Civil Service Commission on behalf of my Department. The commission has taken a number of steps to encourage applications from the ethnic minorities and to ensure that selection procedures are nondiscriminatory. These include publicity in the ethnic minority press, increasing representation of ethnic minority members on selection panels, training in equal opportunities issues and validation of selection procedures to ensure that they are non-discriminatory.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy how many and what percentage of officers in each grade (1 to 7) and overall in the Department are(a) women and (b) from ethnic minorities, respectively.
§ Mr. WakehamAs at 1 January 1991 there were no women in grades 1 to 4; at grade 5 there were five, or 12.5 per cent., at grade 6 there was one, or 4.5 per cent., and at grade 7 there were 14 or 10 per cent. The information supplied voluntarily in the most recent ethnic origin survey shows one person, or 0.5 per cent., of grades 1 to 7 is from the ethnic minorities.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Energy when his Department last conducted a survey of the ethnic origins of its employees; when it next plans to do so; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. WakehamThe last survey was conducted in the spring of 1990, and a top-up survey is currently in progress. Further surveys will be carried out as the need arises, initially on an annual basis.