§ Mr. VazTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will provide a breakdown, in numerical and percentage terms, of the ethnic origin, at 1 March, of(a) his private office, (b) Government special advisers, (c) his Policy Unit and (d) staff in total. [78507]
§ Mr. DewarInformation on the ethnic origin of the civil servants is collected using a voluntary, confidential questionnaire. To protect the privacy of individual staff, data relating to fewer than five people are not disclosed in equal opportunities monitoring. Information is therefore not available for(a) my private office and (b) government special advisers in my department. My department does not have a separate Policy Unit.
As regards information on special advisers and staff in total, I refer to the answers given by my right hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office, as follows:
- (b) special advisers—22 February 1999, Official Report, column 39;
- (d) staff in total— 31 March 1999, Official Report, column 711.