§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many and what percentage of the(a) paid and (b) unpaid appointments which he has made to non-departmental public bodies since 1 May 1997 were women. [129847]
§ Mr. HainSince 1 May 1997, Ministers in the Department have made
- (a) two paid appointments, of which none were women
- (b) 128 unpaid appointments, of which 42 were women (32.8 per cent.)
The Department is committed to increasing the representation of women in public life. To that end, it has drawn up an action plan for increasing the number of women holding public appointments to 35 per cent. by 2000 and to 50 per cent. by 2003. The Department's latest plans, together with the Government's overall plan, were published on 24 May 2000 in "Quangos: Opening up Public Appointments 2000–2003", copies of which are in the Libraries of the House.