Written question asked by Mike O'Brien (Labour) on Thursday, 9 May 2002, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 23 May 2002. It was answered by Baroness Harman (Labour) on Thursday, 23 May 2002 on behalf of the Solicitor General.

Solicitor-General

Question: To ask the Solicitor General, What action she has taken to introduce anti-discrimination policies within the Crown Prosecution Service. (Failed OPQ) - Inc figures.

Answer: Mr. Mike O'Brien: To ask the Solicitor-General what action she has taken to introduce anti-discrimination policies within the Crown Prosecution Service. [56382] The Solicitor-General: Anti-discrimination measures already implemented include: (1) training over 6,000 members of staff in equality and diversity, all staff have diversity objectives measured through the performance appraisal system, (2) the appointment of 11 regional officers, (3) campaigns on `dignity at work' (4) a raft of community engagement initiatives across the country, (5) all personnel procedures have been reviewed to ensure they are not discriminatory, (6) a new complaints procedure has been written, and there is a review of 15,000 cases to see whether there are indicators of discrimination in any part of the prosecution process. All these measures are already paying dividends: the CPS now has a representative workforce--11.6 per cent. of staff are from minority ethnic groups, this is higher than the percentage in the population. In London the figure is 30 per cent. This compares very well with other Government Departments.

Secondary information