§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of the total work force in his Department is registered as disabled; and what steps he is taking to encourage the employment of disabled people in his Department. [102041]
§ Dr. ReidAt 1 January 2000 no staff from the Scotland Office had self declared a disability in terms of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995. (The procedure under which people could formerly be registered disabled ceased on 2 December 1999).
Recruitment advertisements and associated information will make it clear that my Department is an equal opportunity employer and will carry the Employment Services Disability symbol, highlighting its commitment to people with disabilities and a positive approach to staff who have a disability.
§ Mr. CrausbyTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what percentage of the total work force in his Department is of ethnic minority origin; and what steps he is taking to encourage the employment of people from the ethnic minorities in his Department. [102729]
§ Mr. CoxTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many senior civil servants from an ethnic minority background are employed in his Department; and how many of them are(a) men and (b) women. [110677]
§ Dr. ReidInformation on the ethnic origin of 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 my Department for the total percentage of the work force who are from an ethnic minority background.
Action is being taken across the civil service to address the under-representation of ethnic minorities. As part of that, my Department will seek ways to encourage more applications from ethnic minority communities.