§ Mrs. Betty WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Wales what steps he is taking to increase the number of female appointments to public bodies in Wales. [38838]
§ Mr. Ron DaviesI have taken a strong policy line on the appointment of women in Wales. I have set a goal of increasing the proportion of women in public appointments to over 30 per cent. by the year 2001. I have put new procedures for public appointments based on open competition and appointment on merit in place.
General practice is that appointments are now advertised publicly and widely, nominations are accepted from a variety of sources such as self nominations, professional and representative associations. I have personally ensured that all shortlists for appointments for which I am responsible include women candidates.
My Department is developing a programme with representative organisations to increase the pool of good candidates from a variety of backgrounds. As part of this programme my Department has developed proposals for innovative public appointment pilot projects. I will be making an announcement about the detail of these pilot projects in June.
Alongside of this my Department is constantly seeking ways to improve the public appointments process and to raise awareness with different representative groups of women. Greater media cover both in newspapers and the radio have already been put into place, and presentations being given to key audiences.
My policy is already seeing results with a 2 per cent. increase of women in appointments from 26 per cent. to 28 per cent. since last year.