Category: Speeches

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Attorney General, what proportion of staff within the Law Officers’ Departments who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

Oliver Heald

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to her by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 16th June (Official Report, Col 433W).

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what targets his Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.

Mr Francis Maude

To win the global race we need the best civil servants regardless of their background so we must recruit, retain and promote on the basis of merit. We want to see more talented people, whatever their background, reach the very top roles.

There has been for many years a majority of women in the Civil Service but this was not reflected into the Senior Civil Service.

Although there has been a small increase in the proportion of women in the Senior Civil Service since 2010, and in the proportion of civil servants who declare that they are from an ethnic minority background, there is still much to do.

We know that for too long talent management in the Civil Service has been weak. That’s why I have commissioned research to examine the blockages preventing women from reaching the most senior levels of the Civil Service.

A plan to address these issues will be published this summer.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what targets his Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.

Anna Soubry

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not have targets for increasing diversity.

In 2012 the MOD published its Strategic Equality Objectives in accordance with the statutory requirements flowing from the Equality Act 2010 to promote equality. These objectives, including the advancement of equality of opportunity, were endorsed by the Defence Board to reflect the fact that the duty to promote equality sits squarely at the top of the Department.

In September 2013, the Permanent Secretary and Chief of the Defence Staff announced the establishment of a Defence Diversity and Inclusion Programme, with the aim of making a tangible and meaningful change in the MOD’s approach to diversity and diversity outcomes.

The primary aim of the programme is to make the workforce more representative of society at all levels, and metrics will be used to measure success.

The MOD publishes a biannual breakdown of diversity statistics which contains analysis of all diversity categories for both civilian and Service Personnel. The most recent report, published on 29 May 2014, can be found at the following address: http://www.dasa.mod.uk/index.php/publications/personnel/combined/diversity-dashboard

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what consideration his Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.

Dan Rogerson

Core Defra follows Cabinet Office advice in meeting its obligations under the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED), which is part of the Equality Act 2010, when considering bids for commercial contracts or grants.

As part of our evaluation criteria we ask each bidder to provide evidence of their equality and diversity policy or an equivalent document which demonstrates their organisation’s commitment to equality and diversity and which is compliant with the relevant legislation.

We ask each bidder to describe the steps they have taken to:

· monitor equality and diversity performance;

· implement training programmes for raising awareness;

· ensure staff and sub-contractors working on the contract comply appropriately with the relevant legislation;

· address cases of discrimination and other breaches and set out measures for preventing recurrences; and

· give the Department full confidence in their organisation’s approach to equality and diversity.

A score is allocated to the bidder’s response to these questions which forms part of the overall technical evaluation of the bid.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Sharon Hodgson on 2014-06-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what proportion of staff within her Department who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.

Karen Bradley

Table 1 provides information on the proportion of staff within the Home
Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of
the last 4 financial years (2009-10 to 2012-13) and who were white. It is
planned that information for 2013-14 will be published in January 2015.

It has not been possible to provide information further broken down as white
British staff as historical data is not collated in this way and could only be
provided at disproportionate cost.

Individuals can be dismissed for a variety of reasons (such as conduct,
performance, or attendance). It is not possible to identify those dismissed
following disciplinary proceedings without incurring disproportionate costs.