To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many women from ethnic minorities are employed by his Department and its agencies; at what grade; and what measures he has taken to encourage the (a) recruitment, (b) employment and (c) promotion of women from ethic minorities with his Department and its agencies. [39897]

The Home Office and its agencies employ a total of 1,252 women known to be from ethnic minorities. Details of their grades are given in the following tables. The Directors General of the Prison Service and of the Forensic Science Service, and the chief executives of the UK Passport Agency and the Fire Service College have provided the figures for their agencies.The Home Office follows the Cabinet Office's programmes for action to achieve equality of opportunity in the civil service for people of ethnic minority origin and for women. Recruitment advertisements, which encourage applications from people regardless of background—including ethnic origin or gender—are placed in the ethnic minority press. A number of measures are being taken to foster links with those from ethnic minorities, including substantial involvement with the Windsor Fellowship and the National Mentoring Consortium and links with community relations councils. In the Prison Service, governors have also been encouraged to make particular efforts to attract applications from women and from those of ethnic minority origin.