§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will list the figures for the number of prison governors by grade and ethnic origin. [23085]
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 9 May 1995]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from Derek Lewis to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 15 May 1995:
The Home Secretary of State has asked me to reply to your recent Question about the number of prison governors by grade and by ethnic origin.18WOn 1 May 1995 there were 1,020 staff employed in governor grades; 46 at Governor 1 level, 75 at Governor 2 level, 126 at Governor 3 level, 309 at Governor 4 level and 464 at Governor 5 level. Our database of staff ethnic backgrounds, covering 97 per cent of non-industrial staff in the Prison Service, indicates that four members of staff in the governor grades registered that they were members of ethnic minorities. To protect those individuals' privacy, and as the numbers are so small I have not broken down the figures by grade or by ethnic origin.
§ Mr. HoyleTo ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what is the policy on the recruitment of ethnic minority prison officers; and what action he is taking to further this policy. [23091]
§ Mr. Michael Forsyth[holding answer 9 May 1995]: Responsibility for this matter has been delegated to the Director General of the Prison Service, who has been asked to arrange for a reply to be given.
Letter from A. J. Pearson to Mr. Doug Hoyle, dated 15 May 1995:
The Home Secretary has asked me, in the absence of the Director General from the office, to reply to your recent Question about the recruitment of prison officers from the ethnic minorities.The Prison Service is an equal opportunities employer and equality of opportunity is one of the values set out in the Statement of Purpose, Vision, Goals and Values.Individual prison establishments assumed responsibility for recruiting prison officers in April 1993, (before this there was a centralised system with continuous recruitment). All appointments to the Prison Service are (and must be) made on the basis of merit and fair and open competition. When recruitment was devolved, comprehensive guidance on recruitment procedures was issued to each establishment.The guidance included specific guidance on recruitment of members of the ethnic minorities. It pointed out that positive discrimination in favour of women or members of the ethnic minorities is unlawful, but the Sex Discrimination Act and Race Relations Act do permit positive action to encourage under represented groups to apply for jobs. Governors, therefore, are expected to take positive action to redress the current under representation of people from the ethnic minorities in the prison officer grades. The guidance suggested various means—such as presentations to local religious and community groups, encouraging ethnic minority groups to attend prison events, development of links with local Race Equality Councils and the Race Relations Employment Advisory Service—by which governors could raise awareness of the work of the Prison Service and encourage members of the ethnic minorities to apply for jobs.All recruitment is continuously monitored and further advice is issued to Governors in response to any problems or difficulties highlighted by that monitoring process.