§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he has taken to recruit women, members of ethnic minorities and disabled people, respectively, in top grades of employment at her Department.
§ Mr. SackvilleRecruits to senior grades in the Department are selected on merit on the basis of fair and open competition with certain limited and legally permitted exceptions. Various steps have been taken throughout the civil service to aid recruitment from all sectors of the community including equal opportunities training for those involved in selection and the use of validated selection procedures.
The Department supports these initiatives and monitors carefully the results of all recruitment exercises.
§ Mr. JannerTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) when her Department last conducted surveys of(a) ethnic origins and (b) the number of women among its employees; when it next plans to do so; and whether she will make a statement;
(2) how many and what percentage of officers in each grade from I to 7 and overall in her Department are (a) women, (b) from ethnic minorities and (c) disabled people.
§ Mr. SackvilleThe last survey of ethnic origin conducted in the Department was in December 1992. A further survey is planned later in this year. No special surveys are conducted to determine the number of women employed by the Department as this information is readily available.
The information requested on the number of women, ethnic minority staff and disabled people is shown in the table:
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Grade Total staff (numbers) Women number Per cent. Ethnic minorities number Per cent. Disabled people number Per cent. 1 2 0 — 0 — 0 — 2 5 0 — 0 — 0 — 3 26 6 23.1 0 — 0 — 4 28 7 25.0 0 — 2 7.1 5 193 63 32.6 11 5.7 1 0.5 6 142 49 34.5 4 2.8 0 — 7 557 172 30.8 22 3.9 3 0.5 All Grades (including 1.7) 5,112 2,819 55.1 651 12.7 68 1.3 Notes:
1. Number of staff, based on figures obtained from the Department's personnel computer system as at 24 March 1993.
2. The figures exclude special hospitals, youth treatment service, staff on loan, secondees in to the Department and casual staff of all grades.
3. The figures for disabled people are for Registered Disabled People only.
4. Numbers of ethnic minority staff relate to those responding to the ethnic origin questionnaire.