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1 Apr 2003 : Column 793—continued
Civil Service
21. Tony Wright (Cannock Chase): If he will make a statement on progress with the diversity strategy in the civil service. [105843]
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Douglas Alexander): We are making steady progress in increasing the diversity of the civil service: 52 per cent. of staff in post in the civil service are women and 7.9 per cent. of staff are from a minority ethnic background, compared with 6.5 per cent. in the economically active population of the United Kingdom. At 3.6 per cent., the proportion of disabled staff in the service suggests that we are making slower progress in that regard, but we are taking steps to address that.
Tony Wright : I am grateful to the Minister for that answer. I agree that steady progress is being made, but will he tell us about the one Department where no progress at all is being made? It has only half the number of women and only a quarter the number of ethnical minority people in senior posts. I refer, of course, to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Why is it exempt from the diversity agenda?
Mr. Alexander: My hon. Friend raises an important point. Clearly, the responsibility in Departments for such issues is led by a permanent secretary and Ministers, but principally by individual Departments, working under guidance from the Cabinet Office. Given the issue that he raises, I will ensure that there is communication between the Cabinet Office and the Foreign Office on the specific point that he makes.
Mr. Elfyn Llwyd (Meirionnydd Nant Conwy): Things are not so good in the Minister's own Department. Its own 2001–02 report shows that more than 100 staff were engaged in that year, but fewer than
9 per cent. of them were from ethnic minority backgrounds and there was only one disabled person. That is not very good, is it?
Mr. Alexander: I am certainly not complacent about the work that we need to continue to do on the diversity agenda in the civil service. To take just one example involving ethnic minorities, the pathways initiative—a specific initiative for the senior civil service—will make a constructive contribution to that work.
Public Appointments
22. Mr. John Lyons (Strathkelvin and Bearsden): What steps are being taken to publicise decisions on public appointments. [105844]
The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr. Douglas Alexander): The Government are committed to ensuring greater access to information about public appointments. The new public appointments vacancies website, which was launched by the Cabinet Office last week, demonstrates that commitment and supports the Government's wider objectives on diversity, putting citizens first and extending the range of services online.
Mr. Lyons : I thank my hon. Friend for that response. Does he agree that, if we can more widely publicise public appointments, people will have greater confidence in the system, which will also enhance the sterling role of people throughout the country who volunteer for public service?
Mr. Alexander: I certainly endorse my hon. Friend's sentiments. We are keen to ensure that we publicise as widely as possible the range of opportunities that there are to make a contribution to public service through serving on a public body. It might be of particular interest to my hon. Friend to learn that the Scottish Parliament passed the Public Appointments and Public Bodies etc. (Scotland) Act 2003 in the past few days. It received its Royal Assent on 11 March. That will mean that, in addition to the work that is being carried out by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments at a United Kingdom level, separate initiatives will be taken forward through the devolved legislature in Scotland that are relevant to his constituency.
Points of Order
12.30 pm
Michael Fabricant (Lichfield): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will know that, from time to time in the past, Secretaries of State and Ministers talked about boom and bust. That appears to have ended now. However, the current craze is for Ministers to say time and time again—the Secretary of State for Transport said it today—that the Conservative party is committed to 20 per cent. cuts in public expenditure. Ministers know that to be untrue and to be a lie. What can we do to protect the truth in the Chamber and to ensure that this lie does not continue to be propagated?
Mr. Speaker: That is a matter for debate, so I shall not be drawn into it.
Jeremy Corbyn (Islington, North): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Since we last had a statement about the situation in Iraq, the Prime Minister has met the President of the United States, the US Defence Secretary has sought to bring Iran and Syria into the conflict and there has been a rising tide of civilian as well as military casualties in this dreadful conflict. Yesterday, a number of Members raised points of order about the lack of a statement from the Prime Minister yesterday. Another day has passed and there is still no sign of a statement. Is there any way that the House can encourage the Secretary of State for Defence, the Foreign Secretary or the Prime Minister to come to the House to give us an update on the appalling situation in Iraq?
Mr. Speaker: Defence questions were held yesterday and many of the matters that the hon. Gentleman raised were covered then. As to the Prime Minister making a statement, Prime Minister's Question Time will be held tomorrow and hon. Members can seek to catch my eye. However, I make no promises as to whom I call.
Glenda Jackson (Hampstead and Highgate): Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will be aware of newspaper reports today detailing the United States plans for a post-conflict Iraqi Government that will number 24 ministries each headed by a US official, with four Iraqi advisers again appointed by the United States. This plan flies directly in the face of a reply that the Prime Minister gave in the Chamber to the right hon. Member for Ross, Skye and Inverness, West (Mr. Kennedy). The right hon. Gentleman urged the Prime Minister to
- "persuade the President that we want a United Nations-led rather than a United States-led Administration in any post-military conflict Iraq."
- "I do not believe that there is a need to persuade the President . . . We made it clear . . . that any post-conflict Iraqi Administration must be specifically accepted and endorsed by the UN."—[Official Report, 26 March 2003; Vol. 402, c. 284.]
Mr. Speaker: The hon. Lady said that she was referring to press reports, so I shall make no further comment on that matter. She can make representations to the officers of the parliamentary Labour party and to the Chief Whip for a debate on these matters.
Mr. John Bercow (Buckingham): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Given that it is your role to act as the guardian of the rights of Back Benchers and that Ministers' tendency to indulge themselves in evasive, long-winded and circumlocutory replies has been greatly exacerbated in recent times, what consideration have you given to time limiting oral questions and answers in the House to facilitate rather greater progress than we suffered today?
Mr. Speaker: All that we have at our disposal is one hour. I will let the hon. Gentleman into a secret. I said to the Secretary of State for Transport that I hoped that the replies would be a lot shorter the next time that we have Transport questions.
Mr. Tam Dalyell (Linlithgow): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You will be relieved to hear that I learned my lesson from your wrath of a fortnight ago, and that I am asking not about an issue that I raised with your Office this morning but about a later issue. That is the reports that are coming through that a number of Shi'a from Iran, because of what they see as the attacks on their holy places of Karbala and Najaf—which are perhaps even more important than Mecca and Medina—are volunteering their services to the Iraqi forces. Is there any possibility of a statement by the Ministry of Defence on those who are coming in from other countries, not least Chechnya and Pakistan, to offer their services to the Iraqi forces?
Mr. Speaker: That is not a matter for me.
Hugh Robertson (Faversham and Mid-Kent): On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In replying to a point of order yesterday from the hon. Member for Crewe and Nantwich (Mrs. Dunwoody), who drew your attention to the fact that, in the absence of the Leader of the House, we were to receive 14 written statements yesterday from Ministers, you kindly and wisely said that you would look into the matter. Are you aware that rather than listening to your words, Ministers have listed a further 15 written statements on the Order Paper today? Is there anything that you can do to prevent that abuse of parliamentary privilege?
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