§ Jackie BallardTo ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what new data series separated by gender, race, disability and age have been commissioned by her Department since June 1997. [90536]
§ Mr. Paul MurphyIn terms of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS), since 1985 detailed monitoring of the workforce has been undertaken in terms of gender, religion and disability. The NICS is currently collecting, for the first time, data on disability to align with the provisions of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. The outcomes of monitoring have been reported in the published reports of the Service's Equal Opportunity Unit, the first of which was published in 1986. The most recent report, the Sixth Report, was published in 1997 and it is intended to publish a Seventh Report later this year. Copies of the Reports are available in the Library of the House.
Since 1991, Home Civil Servants (HCS) working in the Northern Ireland Office, London, have required monitoring for ethnic origin. HCS staff have also been monitored in terms of gender and disability; and for staff working in Northern Ireland, community background.