§ Dr. KumarTo ask the Deputy Prime Minister what percentage of the senior civil service in each of the last four years has been(a) female, (b) members of ethnic minority groups and (c) former students of Oxford and Cambridge. [38315]
§ Mr. LeslieThe information is as follows:(a) At 1 April each year, the percentage of the senior civil service who were female is shown.
956W
Percentage 1998 17.8 1999 19.7 2000 21.6 2001 24.2 (b) At 1 April each year, the percentage of those in senior civil service posts or equivalent who were known to be members of ethnic minority groups is shown:
Percentage 1998 1.6 1999 1.7 2000 2.2 2001 2.4 This information is collected by Departments in a voluntary questionnaire and is known to be incomplete.
At 1 April each year, the percentage of those in senior civil service posts or equivalent whose ethnic origin is unknown were as follows:
Percentage 1998 13.9 1999 10.3 2000 11.7 2001 12.5 Departments are currently re-surveying the ethnicity of their staff to bring the data into line with the Census 2001 categories.
This information relates to those in the senior civil service and other posts of equivalent responsibility (ie includes the diplomatic service and a number of other specialist posts).
(c) At 1 April each year, the percentages of the senior civil service who are known to have been to university and the percentages of those who are known to have been to Oxford or Cambridge are as follows:
Percentage University status unknown Known to have been to University Known to have been to Oxford or Cambridgeas percentage of total 1999 32.9 67.1 24.1 2000 38.7 61.3 21.1 2001 43.2 56.8 18.8 The information is not available for 1998.
Officials are working with Departments to improve both the quality and coverage of the data.