§ Lord Tebbitasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, in discussions between Department of Health officials and the Commission for Racial Equality concerning the number of academic awards granted to medical consultants from ethnic minorities, persons of Jewish origin are regarded as members of an ethnic minority. [HL614]
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonPeople of Jewish origin are regarded as a racial group, and as such are protected by race relations legislation. However, the ethnic origin categories used by the Office for National Statistics do not include a separate Jewish category. Since these are the categories used for ethnic monitoring of the distinction awards scheme, it is not possible to identify the proportion of award holders who are Jewish. The discussions with the commission concerned a number of measures to be introduced in the 1998 awards round to secure better data, monitoring of outcomes, representation of ethnic minority consultants on awards committees, and some changes to the criteria for awards.