A service from mySociety A service from mySociety

TheyWorkForYou

Menu

Race Relations (Amendment) Act

Constitutional Affairs written question – answered at on 15 June 2005.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Keith Vaz Keith Vaz Labour, Leicester East

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many and what percentage of staff in her Department have received training on the general and specific duties of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000, broken down by (a) ethnicity and (b) grade.

Photo of Harriet Harman Harriet Harman Minister of State (Department of Constitutional Affairs), Member, Labour Party National Executive Committee

My Department provided training for all senior managers (Grades 7 and above in HQ and senior operational managers in a range of grades in its agencies) on the duties of the Race Relations (Amendment) Act 2000. This was through a series of seminars and supporting guidance notes. Approximately 750 senior managers (6 per cent. of staff) attended the training and this was then cascaded by the senior managers to their staff.

At the same time the Department reviewed its Diversity Awareness Training course to include details of the duties under the Act. The Diversity Awareness Training course is a mandatory course for all new entrants to the Department.

The Department also reviewed its Employment Law for New Managers course to include details of the duties under the Act. The Employment Law for New Managers course is mandatory for all new managers in the Department.

Since 2002 the Department has been collecting data on training by responsibility level and ethnic origin. Due to the constraints of the current HR IT system we are only able to publish data by training type (developmental/business skills) and we do not have breakdowns for individual courses. The data collected is published in the Department's Equality and Diversity Report 2002–04.

The Department's HR IT system will be upgraded as part of an HR transformation programme.

Does this answer the above question?

Yes0 people think so

No0 people think not

Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.

Amendment

As a bill passes through Parliament, MPs and peers may suggest amendments - or changes - which they believe will improve the quality of the legislation.

Many hundreds of amendments are proposed by members to major bills as they pass through committee stage, report stage and third reading in both Houses of Parliament.

In the end only a handful of amendments will be incorporated into any bill.

The Speaker - or the chairman in the case of standing committees - has the power to select which amendments should be debated.

Minister

Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.