§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will make a statement on the procedures adopted by the Insolvency Service for dealing with members of staff believed to be inefficient; and whether there have been recent changes in these procedures. [141258]
§ Mr. Sutcliffe[holding answer 3 December 2003]The Insolvency Service has two procedures to deal with inefficiency, unsatisfactory performance and unsatisfactory attendance. The procedures are designed to bring performance (or attendance) up to the required standard, and comply with employment legislation and the ACAS Code of Practice on Discipline and Grievance (2000). The inefficiency procedure was revised earlier this year. Both sets of procedures will be reviewed again next year to ensure compliance with the Employment Act 2002 (Dispute Resolution) Regulations.
§ Sir Teddy TaylorTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many Insolvency Service staff have had inefficiency proceedings initiated against them in each of the past five years; and what the ethnic background of the individuals concerned was in each year. [141259]
§ Mr. Sutcliffe[holding answer 3 December 2003]The following table shows the number of Insolvency Service staff and their ethnic background who have had inefficiency proceedings initiated against them in the last five years.
Number White Black1 Unknown 1998 3 3 0 0 1999 1 0 1 0 2000 3 3 0 0 2001 1 1 0 0 2002 4 3 0 1 2003 1 1 0 0 1The data have not been further broken down into categories of ethnic origin as they were collected prior to the latest census ethnic origin categories being used.
Note
The data above exclude inefficiency proceedings taken as a result of unsatisfactory attendance. These data cannot be provided in the timescales given.