More women and minority ethnic staff now work at CPS

11/02/2005

The Crown Prosecution Service has seen marked increases in the numbers of senior female employees and the numbers of Black and Minority Ethnic legal trainees in the past year. The findings are revealed in the CPS Annual Equalities in Employment Report 2003-2004.

Director of Public Prosecutions, Ken Macdonald QC said:

"Crime affects people from all walks of life and from all communities and it is important that our staff are representative of the diverse communities we serve. We are seeing more women and Black and Minority Ethnic staff in senior positions, more minority ethnic staff employed as CPS prosecutors and more minority ethnic staff and disabled staff on our legal trainee schemes. But there is certainly no room for complacency and we are determined to put in place policy and training that will enable us to increase representation of all these groups, particularly at senior levels."

The number of female CPS employees at Senior Civil Service level increased from 23.8 per cent in 2003 to 27.3 per cent in 2004, while there was an increase in the proportion of female Chief Crown Prosecutors from 18.2 per cent in 2003 to 22 per cent in 2004. Representation of women in the CPS in general stood at 67 per cent in April 2004 and is well above the civil service average of 52.3 per cent. The report, produced by independent equality and diversity consultants, Sankofa Exchange Limited, concludes that a key strength for the CPS has been its ability to achieve gender diversity.

There have also been increases in the number of Black and Minority Ethnic legal trainees and those employed at some lawyer grades. In April 2004 Black and Minority Ethnic employees made up 14.2 per cent of all CPS employees, exceeding the civil service average of 8 per cent and exceeding the Labour Force Survey benchmark of 9.4 per cent. This is an increase of 1.5 per cent since April 2003.

The number of Black and Minority Ethnic crown prosecutors at C1 level (lawyer entrant grade) increased from 24.9 per cent to 30 per cent and at C2 level from 6.7 per cent to 10.9 per cent. The most notable increase was in the number of Black and Minority Ethnic legal trainees which increased from 25 per cent in 2003 to 40.5 per cent in April 2004. Representation at trainee lawyer level is key to ensuring a balanced workforce of lawyers for the future.

There was a slight decrease of 0.6 per cent overall in the number of staff with a disability, who make up 4.4 per cent of CPS staff. However, the proportion of disabled staff in the CPS is still higher than the Civil Service benchmark which is 3.7 per cent. The largest increase in disabled employees was found at legal trainee grade where the proportion rose from 5 per cent in 2003 to 6.3 per cent in 2004.

The report highlights where the CPS has made progress in increasing the diversity of staff and sets out areas where improvements are necessary to achieve equality targets. It provides detailed analysis of the CPS workforce by demographic group and covers areas such as applications for posts, appointments, promotions, performance appraisal ratings and training.

Notes to Editors

1. For further information contact CPS Press Office on 020 7710 6091.
2. The CPS Annual Equalities in Employment Report 2003-2004 is available on this website in the Publications/Reports section.
3. The Labour Force Survey measures the size of the economically active population according to a range of demographics. It is published annually by the Office for National Statistics.