Ethnic monitoring: frequently-asked questions Frequently-asked questions about carrying out ethnic monitoringGuiding principles for choosing ethnic monitoring categories If you are carrying out ethnic monitoring, you should make sure that the question you ask to collect information about people's ethnic origins is the same as, or very similar to, the census question.Ethnic monitoring categories Information about ethnic monitoring categories, and links to recommended categories for England and Wales, Scotland, Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Ethnic monitoring categories for England and Wales If you operate in England and Wales, or in England or Wales only, you will need to use a question that is the same as, or very similar to, the England and Wales census question, and compare your data with England and Wales census output data. Devolution reflects an increasing national consciousness in England and Wales, with many people wanting their national identity to be acknowledged. The CRE has therefore developed slightly expanded versions of the ethnic questions used in the 2001 census in England and Wales, which you can use if you need to take this into account.Ethnic monitoring categories for Scotland If you operate in Scotland only, you will need to use a question which is the same as, or very similar to, the Scottish census question to collect data, and compare your data with Scottish census output data (remembering that the categories used for Scottish census output data will be labelled and ordered slightly differently from those in the question). Devolution reflects an increasing national consciousness in Scotland, with many people wanting their national identity to be acknowledged. The CRE has therefore developed slightly expanded versions of the ethnic questions used in the 2001 census in Scotland, which you can use if you need to take this into account

Ethnic monitoring - a guide for public authorities (PDF 479.3 KB)
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Race equality duty code of practice (PDF 442.5 KB)
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Statutory Code of Practice on Racial Equality in Employment (PDF 258.0 KB)
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The CRE's employment monitoring data for 2006 (PDF 56.1 KB)
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This page was last updated on 12 July 2007

Specific duties - public authorities

The employment duty

All public authorities bound by the general duty are also subject to the employment duty, unless specifically exempted (as set out in the Statutory Orders).

The CRE has published its own employment monitoring data for 2006, which you can download here:

CRE employment monitoring data 2006 (pdf, 57kb)

All public authorities bound by the employment duty (see Appendix 3 of the Code of Practice and subsequent Orders) must monitor, by racial group, the numbers of:

staff in post
applicants for employment, training and promotion.

Where an authority has 150 or more full-time staff, they should also monitor the number of staff from each racial group who:

receive training
benefit or suffer detriment as a result of its performance assessment procedures
are involved in grievance procedures
are the subject of disciplinary procedures
cease employment

Authorities are also required to publish the results of this monitoring annually.

The employment duty is not just about collecting numbers and counting staff. Authorities must ensure they are meeting the general duty in exercising its employment functions. Therefore in order to meet the general duty, public authorities should use the above monitoring information to:

see if there are differences in the way racial groups are treated
investigate the underlying reasons for the differences
deal with any unfairness, disadvantage or possible discrimination.

Further information about ethnic monitoring can be found here:

Ethnic monitoring.

Some frequently-asked questions about the employment monitoring duty are outlined below.

Frequently-asked questions about ethnic monitoring

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