HC Deb 29 April 1998 vol 311 c127W
Jackie Ballard

To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Lord Chancellor's Department how many and what percentage of the (i) paid and (ii) unpaid appointments which his Department has made to non-departmental public bodies since 1 May 1997 were women. [39398]

Mr. Hoon

Of the non-judicial appointments made to our non-departmental public bodies since 1 May, 3 (or 33%) of the paid appointments have been women and 91 (or 36%) of the unpaid ones have been women.

The Government are committed to increasing the representation of women in public life. In support of this, my Department has drawn up an action plan for increasing the number of women and ethnic minorities holding public appointments.