Day 133 - 12 Jun 95 - Page 12
1 Q. What was the reason why that Group was set up?
2 A. Well, it is a cross-functional group and we thought
3 that was the best way to make sure that we were getting
4 views from all different sections of the Company, and to
5 ensure that we were carrying out our policy as we wanted to
6 do and to make further improvements as time goes on.
7
8 Q. What do you mean by "improvements"?
9 A. Well, as time goes on I think people within the Company
10 and within society generally change their views and their
11 expectations. It is important that we do the same thing in
12 terms of how we operate in the employment area, equal
13 opportunities.
14
15 Q. Within equal opportunities, of course, one of the
16 categories in the population at large are ethnic
17 minorities, right?
18 A. Yes.
19
20 Q. Is this something to which you have paid particular
21 attention?
22 A. Certainly it is an area that is of interest to me.
23 I have always lived in London and worked in London
24 so .....
25
26 Q. Is it of interest or concern to the Company?
27 A. Yes, it is.
28
29 Q. Why?
30 A. Because the employment of people from ethnic minorities
31 is something that is important to us because we employ many
32 people from ethnic minorities. It is important that we
33 make sure that we are treating them fairly and in line with
34 our policy as we do with everybody else.
35
36 Q. Am I right that in recent years you have begun to compile
37 statistics showing what the constituent parts by ethnic
38 origin are of your staff?
39 A. Yes.
40
41 Q. We know that you have done it for salaried staff. Are you
42 trying or will you try to do it for hourly paid workers?
43 A. Yes, we will. At the moment we do not actually have
44 that in place because it is actually quite a major and
45 complex exercise to do it, and we are at the hands of the
46 Information Services Department.
47
48 Q. I am sorry about this. Can you put away that volume XI
49 please and replace it with it is neighbour 12 and please
50 turn to tab 24A?
51 A. 24A?
52
53 Q. Yes. These should be some -- I do not know if they are
54 called spreadsheets but anyhow they are big sheets, do you
55 see ---
56 A. Yes.
57
58 Q. -- which need to be folded out. They are dated 13th April
59 1994?
60 A. Yes.
