Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what targets her Department has for increasing diversity; and what progress has been made on meeting those targets in the last year.

Tables provided in Annex 1 for representation from March 2013 – March 2014

In conjunction with Cabinet Office, the Department has agreed specific targets
to improve representation rates. The position in the last year is as follows:

• Three female employees have been appointed at Director General level becoming
members of the Home Office Executive Management Board. The position generally
was that 34.39% of staff at Senior Civil Service (SCS) were female compared
with the target of 38%. At Grades 6 and 7 the position was that 43.93% of staff
were female compared with the target of 45%.

• 6.21% of staff with a disability were at SCS level compared to a target
of 3% and at Grades 6 and 7 the position was that 5.99 % staff had a
disability compared with the target of 6%.

• 10.56% of staff at Grades 6 and 7 were from a minority ethnic background
compared to a target of 10%. 4.52% of staff at SCS level were from a minority
ethnic background compared with the target of 6%.

• 5.66% of staff at SCS were lesbian, gay or bisexual compared to the target of
5.0%. At Grades 6 and 7 the position was that 3.4% of staff were lesbian, gay
or bisexual compared with the target of 5.0%.

The position is encouraging but the Department is committed to finding further
progress in all aspects of diversity.