§ Mr. McNamaraTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what targets she has set for reducing the unemployment differential between Catholics and Protestants; and by what criteria she will measure the impact of fair employment legislation. [64209]
§ Mr. IngramGovernment alone cannot reduce the unemployment differential. It also requires practical action and attitudinal change on the part of employers, educators and the unemployed themselves. To assess the rate of progress, the Government propose to commission the Equality Commission to agree with the representatives of employers, employees, political parties and other interests, benchmark measures for the future reduction of the unemployment differential, informed by up-to-date professional analysis. Moreover, the Equality Commission2W will be given a role in advising the Government on measures which they might introduce to reduce the number of, or religious imbalance in, the unemployed.
The impact of the legislation will continue to be measured by changes in the composition of the workforce and by the comparison of the Community composition of those appointed to jobs with that of those applying.