§ Ms AbbottTo ask the Secretary of State for the Environment how may women from ethnic minorities are employed by his Department and its agencies; at what grade; and what measures he has taken to encourage the(a) recruitment, (b) employment and (c) promotion of women from ethnic minorities within his Department and its agencies. [39899]
§ Sir Paul BeresfordThe number of women, by grade, from ethnic minorities employed by the Department and its agencies as at 1 July 1996 was a total of 191 at the following levels or their equivalents: two senior executive officers; 11 higher executive officers; 24 executive officers; 101 administrative officers and 53 administrative assistants.
Measures to encourage recruitment, employment and promotion of women from ethnic minorities have been taken under the Department's action plan for people of ethnic minority origin published in 1991, and a similar action plan for women published in 1993. They include: providing a range of equal opportunities training for managers and staff, including positive action management courses for women only and training on developing potential for ethnic minorities only; publicising staff vacancies in specialist recruitment publications featuring role models, to help encourage minority group representation; participation in the Windsor Fellowship scheme, providing vacation work experience for ethnic minority undergraduates; membership of a mentoring consortium led by the East London university to contribute to the development of ethnic minority students by establishing clear links with role models in employment; ensuring that wherever possible a woman serves on promotion and selection panels and that all such panel members are trained to take account of equal opportunities issues; monitoring and analysing success rates by gender and ethnic origin the processes of recruitment, internal postings scheme, annual performance and promotability markings, performance pay and bonuses; identifying any barriers to progress and enhancing the processes to ensure equality of opportunity; the appointment of equal opportunity liaison officers in each directorate to help promote equality of opportunity in the workplace and reflect local needs; annual reporting by the equal opportunities unit to the department's management board, and to all staff, covering the progress of all equal opportunities initiatives.