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Departmental Equality

Volume 486: debated on Thursday 15 January 2009

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice what information his Department holds on the (a) sex, (b) ethnicity, (c) age, (d) disability, (e) sexual orientation and (f) religion or belief of its staff; and what assessment he has made of his Department's performance against its targets relating to diversity in its workforce. (246014)

The information requested is outlined as follows.

(a) Gender

Table A: Number and percentage of staff by gender in the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) as at 30 November 2008

Gender

Total

Percentage

Female

38,715

47.6

Male

42,684

52.4

Grand total

81,399

100

(b) Ethnicity

Table B: Number and percentage of staff by ethnic grouping in the MOJ as at 30 November 2008

Ethnic Grouping

Total

Percentage

Asian or Asian British—Bangladeshi

232

0.3

Asian or Asian British—Indian

1,239

1.8

Asian or Asian British—Other

332

0.5

Asian or Asian British—Pakistani

364

0.5

Black or Black British—African

1,004

1.5

Black or Black British—Caribbean

1,223

1.8

Black or Black British—Other

222

0.3

Chinese or Other—Chinese

72

0.1

Chinese or Other—Other

507

0.7

Mixed—Other

302

0.4

Mixed—White and Asian

177

0.3

Mixed—White and Black African

75

0.1

Mixed—White and Black Caribbean

205

0.3

White—British

32,506

47.7

White—Irish

478

0.7

White—Other

29,280

42.9

Total declared

68,218

83.8

Total undeclared

13,181

16.2

(c) Age

Table C: Number and percentage of staff in the MOJ by age as at 30 November 2008

Age Banding (years)

Total

Percentage

16 to 19

635

0.8

20 to 24

5,109

6.3

25 to 29

8,002

9.8

30 to 34

7,227

8.9

35 to 39

10,020

12.3

40 to 44

13,274

16.3

45 to 49

12,615

15.5

50 to 54

10,464

12.9

55 to 59

8,466

10.4

60 to 64

4,897

6.0

65+

690

0.8

Grand total

81,399

100

(d) Disability

Table D: Number and percentage of staff by declaration of disability in the MOJ as at 30 November 2008

Disability category

Total

Percentage

Declared disabled

2,416

5

Declared non-disabled

45,732

95

Total declared

48,148

59

Total status undeclared/no response

33,251

41

(e) and (f) Sexual Orientation and Religion

We currently collect data on sexual orientation and religion for new recruits and therefore the data only covers a very small proportion of staff. The MOJ is exploring ways in which we can extend this data collection to existing employees in line with the Cabinet Office “Promoting Equality, Valuing Diversity”.

Assessment against targets

This is the first set of figures provided for the new Department, which shows good progress towards reflecting the society we serve. The data gathered will be used as a benchmark to assess and measure our continual progress.

The MOJ fully recognises the business case for diversity and is strongly committed to improving the diversity of its people resource. To that end we have in place initiatives designed to help us recruit, develop and retain talented and diverse staff.