Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what progress has been made in the Diplomatic Service of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in employing black and minority ethnic (BAME) persons, since the adoption in 1998 of the diversity and equality strategy, Bridges into the Future; how many BAME officers are employed in the Diplomatic Service in each grade from DS6 to SC3; and what is the total staff from all backgrounds in each of those grades.
Answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) has made good progress on the representation of staff from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic backgrounds (BAME) and is on track to achieve our target of 13% BAME staff FCO-wide in 2020. The FCO's recruitment initiatives are designed to attract the widest possible range of talented staff from diverse backgrounds, including people from BAME.
The figures below include all FCO civil servants based in the UK and overseas but they do not include staff from FCO Services or locally engaged staff employed overseas. UK-Based staff are asked to provide information about their ethnicity, but supplying this data is voluntary. Although the FCO encourages staff to supply it, this is not mandatory and reporting rates vary by grade.
| Total | BAME |
Band A | 455 | 121 (87% reporting rate |
Band B | 610 | 117%(80.3% reporting rate |
Band C | 1778 | 189% (82.1% reporting rate) |
Band D | 1302 | 73 (85.3% reprting rate) |
SMS | 417 | 22 (93.8% reporting rate) |
Asked by: Lord Ouseley (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Qatar and FIFA about the health and safety of construction workers building stadiums for the World Cup; and what responses they have received.
Answered by Baroness Anelay of St Johns
The British Government takes seriously the issue of health and safety of construction workers building all infrastructure projects in the Gulf, including Qatar. We expect FIFA to do the same with regard to specific World Cup related projects. British officials promote the importance of local construction projects meeting international safety standards with their Qatari counterparts. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), raised our concerns about the wider treatment of foreign workers with the Qatari government during bilateral exchanges in Doha on 26 February. The Government welcomes the Qatari government's announcement of a series of measures to improve regulations governing the treatment of workers. We stand ready to support these efforts where we can.