§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster how many candidates invited to and attending the seminar organised by the Cabinet Office on 29 April for British candidates for European Parliament open competition PE/60/A for English language administrators were(a) women and (b) men; what was the regional breakdown of those (i) invited and (ii) attending the seminar; how many such seminars have been held in each of the last five years in the United Kingdom; and where each was held.
Mr. DavisInvitations to the seminar were issued by the European Parliament on behalf of the Cabinet Office to the 654 Britons who applied for the competition; of these, 299 were women and 355 were men.
One hundred and five candidates accepted the invitation; of these, 50 were women and 47 were men—the other eight did not indicate their gender. These candidates came from the following regions:
Regions Number London and Southern England 58 Midlands and Northern England 19 Wales and the West Country 14 Northern Ireland 1 Scotland 0 Elsewhere in Europe 13 During the past five years, the Cabinet Office has not held any other seminars for competitions run by the European Parliament, but it has organised seminars for the main competitions run by other EC institutions as follows:
Location Year Seminars 4 in London 1 in Edinburgh 1988 5 London 1989 1 London 1990 2 4 in London 1 in Edinburgh 1991 5 London 1992 3 London 1993 1
§ Mr. DonohoeTo ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will review the procedures used by the Cabinet Office in arranging seminars for United Kingdom candidates for European Parliament English language administrators to ensure that(a) accurate information is provided to candidates and (b) all candidates are given an equal opportunity to take part.
Mr. DavisThe content of every seminar and the procedures used to arrange it are reviewed after the seminar has taken place; the results inform the arrangements for the next seminar.