§ Mr. AllanTo ask the Secretary of State for Health 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. [129840]
§ Ms Stuart[holding answer 11 July 2000]: A total of 429 appointments have been made to non-departmental public bodies since 1 May 1997. 289 of these were paid appointments, of which 105 (36.3 per cent.) were women. 140 were unpaid appointments, of which 51 (36.4 per cent.) were women. In addition, a total of 3,400 appointments have been made to the boards of National Health Service Trusts, health authorities and primary care trusts since 1 May 1997. All these posts are paid, and 1,695 (49.8 per cent.) of those appointed were women.
We are committed to increasing the representation of women in public life. In support of this the Department has drawn up an action plan for increasing the number of women and people from the ethnic minorities holding public appointments. The 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 available in the Library.