Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and what proportion of (a) her Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by her Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) women and (ii) men.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
There are no staff directly employed by DFID who are paid less than the current Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. DFID considers the rate of pay for outsourced workers to be an issue for contractors. We encourage outsource partners to pay the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and what proportion of (a) her Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by her Department who are paid less than the Living Wage are (i) white British and (ii) from an ethnic minority background.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
There are no staff directly employed by DFID who are paid less than the current Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. DFID considers the rate of pay for outsourced workers to be an issue for contractors. We encourage outsource partners to pay the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how many and what proportion of (a) her Department's staff and (b) staff working for companies contracted by her Department are paid less than the Living Wage.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
There are no staff directly employed by DFID who are paid less than the current Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation. DFID considers the rate of pay for outsourced workers to be an issue for contractors. We encourage outsource partners to pay the Living Wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what her Department is doing to help end the practice of breast-ironing in Western, Eastern and Central African countries.
Answered by Desmond Swayne
Addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a top priority for the UK Government and DFID. We have prioritised work to end VAWG and break the silence on all harmful traditional practices like breast ironing.
Tackling the root causes and drivers of sexual and gender-based violence is essential to make progress on eliminating violence against women and girls. While we do not have programmes specifically addressing the harmful traditional practice of breast ironing, we are working to end all forms of violence against women and girls in whatever way it presents itself. Details of our VAWG programmes in 29 countries can be found on development tracker.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of staff within her Department who have been dismissed following formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years were white British.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Declaration of ethnicity for staff at DFID is voluntary and it is therefore not possible to confirm the ethnicity of any staff who have been subject to disciplinary proceedings.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what proportion of staff within her Department who have been subject to formal disciplinary proceedings in each of the last five financial years classed themselves as white British.
Answered by Alan Duncan
Declaration of ethnicity for staff at DFID is voluntary and it is therefore not possible to confirm the ethnicity of any staff who have been subject to disciplinary proceedings.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what consideration her Department gives to the diversity policies and records of businesses or other organisations when considering their bid for commercial contracts or grants.
Answered by Alan Duncan
DFID considers a number of factors including relevant diversity clauses when considering contracts and grants.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Gateshead South)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what targets her Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.
Answered by Alan Duncan
DFID has aligned with the Civil Service-wide diversity targets for levels of representation in the Senior Civil Service (SCS). These targets are:
· 39% of the SCS to be women – DFID has achieved this target as 39% of our SCS are women.
· 34% of top management posts (Director and above) to be held by women DFID has exceeded this target as 42% of such posts are held by women.
· 5% of the Senior Civil Service to be minority ethnic staff - DFID has exceeded this target as 7% of our SCS are minority ethnic.
· 5% of the Senior Civil Service to be disabled people - DFID has exceeded this target as 6% of our SCS identify as having a disability.
In addition to this DFID has made a commitment to improve staff engagement survey scores for people with disabilities as this is recognised as an issue across government. DFID has improved the overall staff engagement survey score for staff with disabilities from 65% in November 2012 to 71% in November 2013.