§ Mr. Derek FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Social Security (1) what changes he has made to the funding of equality monitoring in his Department; for what reasons; and what representations he has received in respect of these changes; [25944]
(2) what assessment he has made of the impact of reduction in equality monitoring in his Department and its agencies on (a) promoting equal opportunities and (b) eliminating discrimination; [25946]
(3) what factors underlay his decision to abandon ethnic origin re-survey exercises among staff in (a) the Child Support Agency and (b) the Contributions Agency. [25945]
§ Mr. BurtThere is no separate resource allocation for equality monitoring. The great majority of equal opportunities monitoring is carried out as an integral part32W of the wider monitoring of the Department's personnel policies and practices. This monitoring will continue in order to highlight both best practice and areas of concern, and to work to improve equality of opportunity for all staff.
Along with other civil service Departments, this Department has been looking at ways of reducing costs and, as part of this wider review, has looked at its work plans for equal opportunities. We have decided not to undertake any ethnicity follow-up surveys within the Department or its agencies in the next three years. The Department already has a very good overall response rate of 86 per cent., and this action will not affect our ability to promote equal opportunities and eliminate discrimination in the workplace.
Representations about changes to equality monitoring have been received from the trade union sides in DSS headquarters and the Contributions Agency.