TNAG-2156-FCO40-3076-International-Covenant-on-Civil-and-Political-Rights-(ICCPR)-1990 — Page 110

CCPR/C/58/Add.6 page 78

to include an ethnicity question in their admission material for full-time first degree courses from 1990/91 onwards. UCCA data will then be transferred to the University Statistical Record in respect of those students enrolled at university.

Civil Service

366. Four per cent of the non-industrial staff in the Civil Service are from the ethnic minorities, but the proportion at executive officer level and above is only 2.2 per cent.

Of new entrants, however, 8.2 per cent are from the minorities, and at executive officer level and above 3.9 per cent of new entrants are from the minorities.

Recruitment

367. Recruitment drives aimed specifically at members of the ethnic minorities are part of the recruitment process for the police, the probation service, the prison service and the Civil Service, among other institutions. (In England and Wales, just under 1 per cent of police and prison officers have an ethnic minority background, but just over 2 per cent of probation officers come from such a background.)

Women in public life

Judges

368. One Lord Justice, 1 High Court judge and 16 circuit judges are women. This represents only 4 per cent of the judiciary at those levels but is some improvement on the past.

Parliament

369. There are 41 women Members of Parliament, 6.2 per cent of the House of Commons. This is a higher percentage than in any Parliament since the Second World War.

Government

370. The Prime Minister is the only woman member of the Cabinet, but 5 junior ministers out of 69 are women.

Public bodies and Civil Service

371. In 1987, 19 per cent of appointments to public bodies were of women. This represents only a very slight increase since 1984. In the Civil Service, 48 per cent of the staff are women, although they are overwhelmingly concentrated at the lower grades. Only one Permanent Secretary is a woman, but the proportion of administrative assistants (the lowest non-industrial grade) is 75 per cent. The difference between women's and men's promotion rates has however narrowed over the years.