To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of permanent staff in his Department and its predecessors were female in each year since 1997. (202854)

The latest figures available (31 December 2007) show that my Department has 2,900 permanent staff, of which 1,693 are female representing 58 per cent. of all permanent staff.

The Department was formed as part of the Machinery of Government changes of 28 June 2007. It is therefore not exactly comparable to its predecessor, the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), but figures for earlier years for DfES can be found in the Civil Service Statistics Archive:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/statistics/archive/index .asp

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of female permanent staff in his Department and its predecessors worked (a) part-time and (b) flexibly in each year since 1997. (202865)

The latest figures available (31 December 2007) record 2,900 permanent staff in my Department, of which 1,693 are female (58 per cent. of all permanent staff). Of these 411 worked part-time, representing 24 per cent. of all female permanent staff.

As well as part-time working, the Department encourages a range of other flexible working patterns for all staff, including flexitime. The Department was formed as part of the Machinery of Government changes of 28 June 2007. It is therefore not exactly comparable to its predecessor, the Department for Education and Skills, but it does build on a wide range of flexible working patterns first developed in the previous Department. Figures for earlier years can be found in the Civil Service Statistics Archive:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/statistics/archive/index.asp

To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families how many and what proportion of female senior civil servants in his Department and its predecessors worked (a) part-time and (b) flexibly in each year since 1997. (202868)

At 31 December 2007 my Department had 48 female staff (45.3 per cent.) out of a total of 106 staff in the senior civil service. Four out of the 48 women (8.3 per cent.) in the senior civil service work part-time. In addition to part-time working, other flexible arrangements are available to staff.

The Department was formed as part of the Machinery of Government changes announced on 28 June 2007. Although not directly comparable due to staff changes, its predecessor was the Department for Education and Skills which had 131 staff in the senior civil service, of which 53 were female at December 2006. Seven out of 53 women (13.2 per cent.) worked part-time at that point. Figures for earlier years can be found in the Civil Service Statistics Archive:

http://www.civilservice.gov.uk/about/statistics/archive/index .asp