To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 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 ethnic minorities within his Department and its agencies. [39892]
My Department and its agencies have in place a wide range of measures to improve the quantity and level of representation of people of ethnic minority origin—both men and women—in the civilian work force. A separate range of measures is also aimed at all women staff and potential recruits, irrespective of their ethnicity. These measures, which are defined in the MOD's action programmes for race and women, include a civilian ethnic minority steering committee, which meets annually with one of my ministerial colleagues and separately with senior officials; recruitment and promotion monitoring; participation in the Windsor fellowship scheme for graduates of ethnic minority origin; equal opportunities awareness training for staff and managers; and personal effectiveness training programmes for women and ethnic minority staff. My Department has also recently reviewed its equal opportunities policy and practice as these impact on ethnic minority staff and related issues; it is also a member of the business in the community initiative "Race for Opportunity"; and it has participated in a Cabinet Office study to research how "double disadvantage" affects women of ethnic minority origin in the civil service. All of these measures and initiatives contribute to the provision of equality of opportunity in my Department for women from the ethnic minorities. The information requested about the number of ethnic minority women employed in the MOD and its agencies are as follows.
| MOD Permanent Staff by Graded Equivalence Ethnic Minority Women | |
| As at 1 April 1996 | |
| Former grades 1 to 5 | 0 |
| Grade 6 | 0 |
| Grade 7 | 5 |
| SEO | 6 |
| MOD Permanent Staff by Graded Equivalence Ethnic Minority Women | |
| As at 1 April 1996 | |
| HEO | 20 |
| EO | 62 |
| AO | 235 |
| AA | 215 |
| Non-industrial | 543 |
| Industrial | 81 |
| Total | 624 |