TNAG-2156-FCO40-3076-International-Covenant-on-Civil-and-Political-Rights-(ICCPR)-1990 — Page 108

CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 76

353. All members of the Diplomatic Service must undergo positive vetting. Homosexuality, even if acknowledged, is a bar to employment in the Diplomatic Service.

354. The changes notified at paragraph 103 of the second periodic report continue to represent the current position. The latest version of the General Regulations includes an amendment to the nationality regulation (12.1), which now simply has a requirement for candidates to be Commonwealth citizens, British protected persons or citizens of the Republic of Ireland. Previously, candidates other than British citizens were subject to a United Kingdom residential requirement plus parental nationality restrictions.

355. On 13 April 1989, the Minister announced certain changes in responsibility for civil service recruitment. After 1991, there will be a stronger monitoring role for the Civil Service Commission, backed up by legislation, to ensure that the principle of fair and open competition and selection on merit is maintained.

356. A statement setting out the current position with regard to the Civil Service as an equal opportunities employer is attached (see annex to this report).

Local government officers

357. There has been a long tradition in the United Kingdom that senior local government officers, like senior civil servants, do not undertake public political activity, since the public profession of political views is difficult to reconcile with impartial service to a local authority as a whole. Recently, with the increased politicization of local government, that tradition has been undermined. The Local Government and Housing Bill, which is currently before Parliament, seeks to introduce into local government a requirement that senior local government officers, like senior civil servants, do not undertake public political activity.

Ethnic minorities

358. This section concentrates on those members of ethnic minorities who regard themselves as such, principally those with an Afro-Caribbean or Asian background (although many will have been born in the United Kingdom).

Lay magistrates

359. A survey published in March 1988 showed that the proportion of ethnic minority magistrates appointed in England and Wales increased from 1.8 per cent in 1980 to 4.6 per cent in 1986. On 1 January 1987, 1.9 per cent of serving magistrates were of an ethnic minority background (455 out of 23,730). This survey covered the whole of England and Wales with the exception of the counties of Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside, where appointments to the bench are made by the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. The Government now has an informal system of monitoring the number of magistrates from the ethnic minority communities appointed.