To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what were the appraisal performance markings awarded to civil servants in 1998 for (a) each agency in his Department and (b) the Department broken down by (i) grade, (ii) gender, (iii) ethnicity, (iv) part-time/full-time working and (v) disability; and for (1) each agency and (2) the Department, if the Cabinet Office's four fifths rule for detecting potential adverse impact was applied to the appraisal markings of civil servants in the 1998 report round. [78139]

The appraisal performance markings awarded to civil servants in Department of Trade and Industry headquarters in 1997–98 broken down by the various groups are given in the percentages.

Per cent.
	Box mark
	1	2+	2	3+	3 and under
Ranges 1–2	3.59	11.21	23.32	39.46	22.42	100.00
Ranges 3–4	2.88	14.66	33.46	37.47	11.53	100.00
Ranges 5–6	2.29	15.59	36.77	35.62	9.73	100.00
Ranges 7–8	3.02	18.79	41.00	31.01	6.18	100.00
Ranges 9–11	4.38	23.71	40.04	28.49	3.39	100.00
SCS	11.11	28.99	29.95	28.99	0.97	100.00

Per cent.
	Box mark
	1	2+	2	3+	3 and under
Men	3.30	18.51	36.20	33.39	8.60	100.00
Women	4.32	19.10	37.25	32.39	6.95	100.00
White	4.10	20.31	37.42	31.08	7.09	100.00
Ethnic	2.15	11.94	30.53	42.47	12.92	100.00
Status unknown	2.54	14.86	39.49	35.51	7.61	100.00
Part-time	2.88	15.23	34.16	41.15	6.58	100.00
Full-time	3.77	18.99	36.79	32.42	8.03	100.00
Disabled1	2.61	18.95	30.72	37.26	10.46	100.00
1 self-nomination of a disability, not necessarily falling within the definition in the Disability Discrimination Act 1995.

The Department's statistics directorate was commissioned to analyse data for headquarters staff to ascertain whether there is evidence to suggest any potential adverse impact in box markings received. The technique of categorical modelling was used for this analysis, being far more robust than the 'four-fifth' rule and with the advantage of being able to identify any interrelationships between several factors, for example, ethnicity, gender, grades and box mark as opposed to the relationship between just two variables, for example, ethnicity and box mark received.I have asked the chief executives of the DTI's Agencies to write to my hon. Friend direct. Copies of these letters have been placed in the Library of the House.