HC Deb 01 December 1993 vol 233 cc590-4W
Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total number of employees, by grade, in the Intervention Board executive agency; how many at each grade are women; what steps the Intervention Board Executive Agency has taken to implement the programme for action to achieve equality of opportunity for women in the civil service, announced by the Minister for the Civil Service in 1992; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the action plan drawn up by the Intervention Board for implementing the programme in that agency.

Mrs. Shephard

Responsibility for this matter is delegated to the Intervention Board executive agency and I have asked the chief executive to reply to the hon. Gentleman direct.

Mr. Frank Field

To ask the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food what is the total number of employees, by grade, in the Intervention Board executive agency; how many at each grade are of ethnic minority origin; what steps the Intervention Board executive agency has taken to implement the programme for action to achieve equality of opportunity for people of ethnic minority origin, announced by the Minister for the Civil Service on 22 May 1990; and if she will place in the Library a copy of the action plan drawn up by the intervention board for implementing the programme in that agency.

Mrs. Shephard

Responsibility for this matter is delegated to the Intervention Board executive agency and I have asked the chief executive to reply to the hon. Gentleman direct.

Letter from G. Stapleton to Mr. Frank Field, dated 1 December 1993: The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has asked me to reply to the Parliamentary Questions on the Equal Opportunities Programmes for Action which appeared under your name on the Notice of Questions given on 23 November. The information you requested is set out below and in the enclosed annexes, together with explanations of the general background.

Women in the Civil Service Enclosed at Annex I is a list of the total number of employees in the Agency, by grade, showing separately the number of women in each grade. Following the introduction of the Programme for Action in 1992 the Agency drew up its Action Plan, a copy of which is at Annex II. We are fully committed to equal opportunities with the aim of implementing those recommendations within the Programme for Action which are Applicable to the agency. The Intervention Board has a policy on flexible working patterns which includes staff who work part-time but only during school term time, as well as the more usual part-time arrangements which apply throughout the year. Currently about 15% of the staff of the Agency are part-time employees. There are also some examples of job sharing within the Agency and the arrangements are being examined to identify other posts to which this flexibility could apply. Career breaks are granted to staff in appropriate circumstances to meet their domestic commitments and proposals have been put to our Trade Union Side to formalise this scheme. The Agency has agreed to take the lead on Child Care on the co-ordinating body for Civil Service departments and agencies within the Reading area and is liaising with the Thames Valley Training and Enterprise Council in order to provide a child care information service. For the 1993 summer holiday, places were offered for the children of staff on a local play scheme. Opportunities for the provision of future schemes is being examined. Recruitment and promotion boards wherever possible include at least one woman member and the Agency's Equal Opportunities Policy is publicised to job applicants and staff. Sexual Harassment Contact Officers have received specialist training and are available to counsel staff. The Agency's training strategy takes account of the needs of women and includes courses directed specifically towards women. In-house training courses have also been re-organised on a flexible basis to suit the needs of part-time members of staff. It is encouraging to see that the proportion of women in the management grades has steadily increased in recent years; at Executive Officer level women now represent just under 50% of the grade total; at Higher Executive Officer level women account for just under 40%; and at Senior Executive Officer level just over 20%. If this trend continues, as we are confident it will with the assistance of our Equal Opportunities Policy, it augurs well for the achievement of the Agency's aims. However, more needs to be done and the Agency team dealing with Equal Opportunities Policy is being strengthened.

Ethnic Minority Issues in the Civil Service Attached at Annex III is a list containing the total number of employees by grade with an estimation of those of ethnic minority origin. The details given in Annex III were obtained from an exercise undertaken solely for the purpose of this reply. However, dicussions have been under way over the last 2-3 months with the local Trades Union Side on the details of an ethnic monitoring survey of all staff in the Agency. This survey will be underpinned by a Code of Practice governing access to the data and its confidentiality. Since the Programme for Action for People of Ethnic Minority Origin was announced in 1990 steps have been taken to ensure that all staff are aware of the Agency's commitment to equality of opportunity. Managers in particular are made aware of the requirement to operate equal opportunities in such matters as staff reporting and promotion, and of their responsibilities to develop all staff. All training avoids the use of racial stereotypes. Once the Code of Practice has been agreed and the questionnaires issued and returned we will be able to monitor more closely the effectiveness of the Agency's commitment to the Programme of Action including the publication of its Action Plan on race which is currently under preparation. Since the publication of the Programme for Action the Agency has not had any grievance raised concerning discrimination or harassment on the grounds of race and has aimed to ensure that all personnel policies seek to prevent discrimination on these grounds. The publication of the Agency's Departmental Action Plan will help to reinforce these policies and we are confident that they will improve the Ethnic Minority representation more widely throughout the Agency's management grades. The strengthening of the Agency's Equal Opportunities team will enable the Agency to press ahead with the implementation of the Departmental Action Plan.

Annex I
Total number of employees within the agency as at 31 October 1993 indicating number of women by grade
Grade Grade Total1 Number of women by grade1
3 1 —
5 5 —
6 4 —
7 21 1
SEO 48 10
HEO 116 45
EO 207 100
AO 453 302
AA 112 71
SGB1 9 6
SGB2 26 12
SUTLX 1 1
SPTLX 5 3
CTM 1 1
TM 2 2
Grade Grade Total1 Number of women by grade1
TYP 22 22
PS 14 14
ADAS1 1 —
ADAS2 1 —
Total 1,049 590
1 Includes permanent and casual employees.

ANNEX II

Intervention Board—Executive Agency:

1993 Departmental Action Plan for Women

Introduction

  1. 1. The Intervention Board is a medium size Agency, firmly committed to a strong, sound policy of equal opportunity for women, covering current staff, potential recruits and future employees.
  2. 2. The Agency's basic aim is to operate the Common Agricultural Policy Guarantee Section within the United Kingdom, as efficiently and effectively as possible in accordance with policies laid down by Agriculture Ministers.
  3. 3. The Agency has no responsibility for public appointments and the activities, other than direct appointment of staff, do not offer the opportunity of influencing women's issues. The activities set out in this plan therefore relate solely to the employment of women by the Agency and their career development.

Issues for Women

  1. 4. The Agency's approach is based on central guide-lines issued by the Cabinet Office's (OPSS) 'A Programme for Action to Achieve Equality of Opportunity for Women in the Civil Service', (first introduced in 1984 and revised in 1992).
  2. 5. The Agency has reviewed its progress in meeting aims of the 1984 programme and has now set out challenging but achievable targets for future years in line with the methodology suggested by the Opportunity 2000 Campaign which is supported by the OPSS and the revised directions issued in March 1992. The Agency, as with other smaller Government bodies, belongs to the Opportunity 2000 Campaign by virtue of the Cabinet Office "umbrella" subscription.
  3. 6. There is already a well established framework of existing procedures in the Agency, which is being strengthened to demonstrate the Agency's commitment to equal opportunities for women on merit.
  4. 7. Monitoring and, where appropriate, procedures will be strengthened which will:
    1. (a) seek to attract a greater number of women job applicants;
    2. (b) ensure that recruiting procedures do not discriminate against women;
    3. (c) encourage women to enhance their career prospects through appropriate training;
    4. (d) ensure that all women employees are given opportunities to develop their job and career prospects;
    5. (e) monitor the annual staff reporting and performance pay awards to ensure that equal opportunity practices are followed for women;
    6. (f) ensure that there is no discrimination against women at the Agency's promotion boards;
    7. (g) run pro-active policies to retain women staff and to encourage their return after career breaks.
  5. 8. The Agency has established within the framework of these main commitments, individual targets to achieve further progress for the Agency's women staff. Some of the targets are short term to be achieved within 6 to 12 months, others intermediate within 2 to 5 years, and the balance within 5 to 8 years.
  6. 9. The Agency is headed by a Chief Executive at Grade 3. There is currently a balance of women in posts up to and including Executive Officer level which represents the national average of women in the economically active proportion of the population. Although there is no woman officer above Grade 7 level, we have already enhanced the numbers in our middle management grades and intend to improve the balance by grade profile in future years subject to individuals' merit.
    7. 593
  7. 10. The computer Personnel Project, currently being developed, will, when in place, enhance monitoring and the availability of statistics on a gender basis.
  8. 11. The Agency has for several years, pioneered and operated schemes for part time working including permanent term time only posts, with varied and flexible working patterns, including job sharing. These have enabled women staff to return to work despite family commitments as well as new staff to be attracted to its employ.
  9. 12. Some women in the Agency have already taken advantage of the 'Women Only' training courses run by the Civil Service College, and the Industrial Society.
  10. 13. A policy statement and complaints procedure for Sexual Harassment, was published in February 1990 and is currently being updated. A female Sexual Harassment Officer for women is already in place and a male counterpart will be appointed shortly.
  11. 14. Wherever possible internal promotion and external recruitment boards have suitably qualified women represented.

Priorities for action

  1. 15. Although the Agency has a very good record as an employer of women, it considers that there is still more to achieve, in particular, in their representation at middle and senior management grades. Its intentions to meet this and other commitments are set out in the following priorities to be met by 31 March 1993:
    1. (a) to endorse the equal opportunities statement in all recruitment advertisements;
    2. (b) to set up more effect gender monitoring on recruitment;
    3. (c) to improve gender monitoring statistics on training (and career progression);
  2. 16. The following have been identified as priorities to be met by 30 June 1993:
    1. (a) to agree a training strategy for women to enhance their career prospects;
    2. (b) to decide on a possible biennial conference for women in the Agency;
    3. (c) to agree procedures for monitoring Staff Reporting overall assessments by gender;
    4. (d) to implement a Career Break Scheme;
    5. (e) to take a decision on whether child care facilities can be provided.
  3. 17. The Agency has continuing commitments:
    1. (a) to review separate internal training schemes for part-time and term-time staff where appropriate and to enhance the availability generally of all training in the Agency for these staff;
    2. (b) to promote, where appropriate, "positive action" training for women only on both internal and external courses;
    3. (c) to establish career progression statistics by gender;
    4. (d) to keep under consideration with its line managers all posts that may prove suitable for varied work patterns;
    5. (e) to ensure that its "in house" magazines encourage articles and features from women.

Review and publication of results

  1. 18. Progress toward the set targets on equal opportunities will be continuously monitored, and existing procedures will be reviewed and updated. The staff will be notified by means of Office Notices.

21 December 1992.
Annex III
Total number of employees within the agency as at 31 October 1993 with estimated number of ethnic minority staff by grade
Grade Grade total1 Estimated number of ethnic minority staffby grade1
3 1 —
5 5 —
6 4 —
7 21 —
SEO 48 —
HEO 116 1
EO 207 6
AO 453 43
Grade Grade total1 Estimated number of ethnic minority staff by grade1
AA 112 14
SGB1 9 1
SGB2 26 1
SUTLX 1 —
SPTLX 5 —
CTM 1 —
TM 2 —
TYP 22 2
PS 14 1
ADASI 1 —
ADAS2 1 —
—— ——
Total 1,049 69
1Includes both permanent and casual employees.

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