asked the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will make the gathering of information on ethnic origins compulsory, and publish the percentage of entrants to his Department who failed to respond to the ethnic origins questionnaire.

Surveys of the ethnic origins of staff have been carried out in agreement with the Council of Civil Service Unions on the basis of voluntary self-classification. There are no plans at present to change to a compulsory system; however, the Civil Service and the Council of Civil Service Unions are keen to improve the data base and are discussing practical ways in which this can be done. Information on the response rates in the existing new entrant surveys is not readily available.