Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 21 March (HL5834), whether the reason why the female candidate who was not approved for appointment by the Secretary of State was that the Department for Culture, Media and Sport targets of 50 per cent and 10 per cent for female and BAME candidates, respectively, had already been exceeded, that the female candidate was from a minority ethnic background, whereas the successful four men appointed were not, or for some other reason.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Non-executive members of the Channel 4 Corporation board are appointed by Ofcom with the approval of the Secretary of State. Ofcom advertised for four vacancies for candidates with specific sector skills and experience. The Secretary of State approved the four candidates on the basis that they met the skills and experience set out in the advertised job descriptions.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 21 March (HL5834), whether the female candidate who was not approved for appointment by the Secretary of State failed to meet the skills and experience set out in the advertised job descriptions; and if so, whether they have determined that Ofcom was wrong to recommend her as suitably qualified to be appointed.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Non-executive members of the Channel 4 Corporation board are appointed by Ofcom with the approval of the Secretary of State. Ofcom advertised for four vacancies for candidates with specific sector skills and experience. The Secretary of State approved the four candidates on the basis that they met the skills and experience set out in the advertised job descriptions.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 2 March (HL5547), how many (1) female candidates, and (2) candidates from a BAME background, were appointed to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in the first three quarters of 2016–17; and what are the proportions of (a) women, (b) BAME people, and (c) people with disabilities, employed by those parts of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport covered by its Departmental Plan.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
From 1st April 2016 to 31st December 2016, there were 131 new starters in the department. Of these:
On 1st February 2017, the proportion of people actively declaring as each of the following protected characteristics was:
a) Female: 51%
b) BAME: 13%
c) Disabled: 5%
The figures above include permanent and fixed term employees as well as loans/secondments in to the department and employees on paid maternity leave.
* It should be noted that among the 131 new starters there is an ethnicity declaration rate of 47%. That is, of the 61 DCMS starters who have actively declared their ethnicity, 13 were from a BAME background.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Ashton of Hyde on 2 March (HL5545), whether the female candidate did not meet the skills and experience set out in the advertised job descriptions; and what account the Secretary of State took of her gender and ethnic background.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Ofcom advertised for four vacancies for candidates with specific sector skills and experience. The Secretary of State approved the four candidates on the basis that they met the skills and experience set out the advertised job descriptions. The government is committed to ensuring diversity within public appointments. The Cabinet Office aspiration is for 50% of new appointments made by each Government Department to go to female candidates, and 10% to candidates from a BAME background. This target is also contained within the DCMS Departmental Plan, and, in the first three quarters of 2016/17, 56% of new DCMS appointments went to women and 16% to BAME candidates.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies and practices they advocate to encourage boardroom diversity and equality; what advice and encouragement they have given on diversity and equality to Channel 4; and to what effect.
Answered by Baroness Buscombe
The Cabinet Office Centre for Public Appointments, which works across Whitehall, as well as with the private sector and different stakeholder groups, has modernised recruitment practices and attracted a more diverse field of candidates from an ever-wider range of social and professional backgrounds by:
· Placing an emphasis on ability, rather than prior experience, ensuring key roles in public bodies are open to those with skills required
· Increasing awareness of public appointments through a central online advertising website, events and social media
· Simplifying the application process to just require a CV and cover letter
· Assessing every job advert to ensure they are fit for purpose and are open to a wider number of applicants to ensure a diverse pool of candidates.
In 2013 the Government published its strategy for Increasing Diversity in Public Appointments. The Cabinet Office will be publishing an update to this strategy later this year.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what evidence they have to determine progress on the implementation of policies and practices to achieve diversity of representation on the boards of organisations supported by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, with particular reference to black and minority ethnic women and disabled people's membership.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
The government is committed to ensuring diversity within public appointments. The Cabinet Office aspiration is for 50% of new appointments made by each Government Department to go to female candidates, and 10% to candidates from a BAME background. This target is also contained within the DCMS Departmental Plan, and, in the first three quarters of 2016/17, 56% of new DCMS appointments went to women and 16% to BAME candidates.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration was given to the equality and diversity composition of the Channel 4 Board when the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport endorsed the appointment of four men to the Board and rejected the one female candidate who had also been recommended for appointment.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
Non-executive members of the Channel 4 Corporation board are appointed by Ofcom with the approval of the Secretary of State. Ofcom advertised for four vacancies for candidates with specific sector skills and experience. The Secretary of State approved the four candidates on the basis that they met the skills and experience set out in the advertised job descriptions.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen on 16 September (HL1556), how many young people participated in the National Citizen Service programmes during (1) 2014, and (2) 2015; how those participants were recruited; and how much expenditure was incurred in each year.
Answered by Lord Ashton of Hyde
In 2014, 57,789 young people took part in NCS throughout England. The number of young people who took part in the programme in 2015 will be released as part of the independent evaluation of the 2015 programme in due course.
Information on annual NCS expenditure can be found in the published NCS Trust accounts, which are available online through Companies House.
All recruitment is the responsibility of the NCS Trust, the independent organisation which delivers NCS. Recruitment is carried out through the NCS supply chain which includes more than 200 delivery organisations. NCS recruitment primarily takes place in schools, but young people can also sign up through the NCS website.
A range of other local channels support NCS recruitment, including partnerships with local authorities, youth groups, community and voluntary organisations, as well as NCS graduates.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what purpose is served by the National Citizen Service; who benefits from its provision; and what diversity data is available relating to that service.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
NCS was created to help build a more responsible, more cohesive, more engaged society. The government is committed to providing a place on NCS for every young person who wants one.
Social mix is at the core of National Citizen Service and all young people, regardless of background, are supported to take part in the programme.
In 2014, 17% of NCS participants were eligible for free school meals, compared with around 8% of young people of the same age in the general population.
The national picture of NCS shows that young people from disadvantaged and minority ethnic backgrounds are well represented. The latest evaluation showed that 30% of NCS participants were from Black, Mixed or Asian backgrounds compared with 19% of the general population.
The 2014 evaluation demonstrates that NCS graduates are more confident leaders and decision-makers. 7 in 10 NCS graduates felt more confident about getting a job, and more than 9 in 10 graduates felt NCS helped them develop useful skills for the future. Data from the summer 2014 programme showed that participants who were eligible for free school meals generally showed larger increases in personal resilience than others.
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many youth service staff posts have been removed since 2010 and what assessment have they made of the affect of the reduced provision for young people.
Answered by Baroness Chisholm of Owlpen
It is the responsibility of local authorities to decide how to allocate funding for youth services and as part of this, youth service staff posts, according to local need. There is an existing statutory duty on local authorities through Education Act 2006 (Section 507B) to secure, as far as is practicable, sufficient services and activities to improve the wellbeing of young people. Individual local authorities would be best placed to advise on any changes there have been to the number of youth service staff posts in their local area.