Mr. DonhoeTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment what measures her Department has implemented during the last 12 months to 53W encourage the promotion of women into senior positions with her Department and its executive agencies; and what progress her Department has made in encouraging the promotion of women over the last five years. [31555]
§ Mr. Robin SquireBoth former Departments had made significant progress in appointing women to senior posts. Since the merger on 5 July 1995, there has been wide consultation within DFEE on a set of values and an Equal opportunities strategy. The departmental values, among other things, stress the importance of valuing people and
giving people equal opportunities to develop and progress as far as they can on merit".The Department's equal opportunities strategy undertakes as one of its key priorities to look at strategies to enable women to progress on merit to senior posts. This includes reconstituting an advisory group for women—taking forward work previously under way before merger—with a specific remit to advise the DFEE board on strategic issues and on cultural barriers which can prevent women from reaching the most senior levels.
At present, 18 per cent. of the members of the senior civil service in DFEE are women. However, data prior to July 1995 relate to the former Employment Department group and the former Department for education and are not comparable.