Statistics press release – Equality Statistics for the Northern Ireland Civil Service

The Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) today published a report showing a snapshot of the composition of the Northern Ireland Civil Service (NICS) at 1 January 2010. The report includes trend data, analysis of recruitment competitions, and resignation and retirement rates.

The key findings are as follows:

The composition of the NICS at 1 January 2010 was 48% male, 52% female, and (excluding those whose community background was ‘Not Determined’) 51% Protestant, 49% Catholic. The proportion of staff who were from minority ethnic groups was 0.2% and the proportion of staff who had declared a disability was 5%. In general, the more senior the level of the job the lower the representation of females. A similar pattern was evident, but less marked, in the case of community background, with the proportion of staff who were Catholic being highest in the most junior grades and lowest in the most senior grades. The past decade has seen a rise of 4 percentage points in female representation, from 48% to 52%. The greatest increase was in the management grades, particularly the senior management grades where female representation almost trebled (from 11% to 31%). The past decade has seen Catholic representation rise, and Protestant representation fall, by 7 percentage points. The largest changes have occurred in the higher management grades (18 percentage points at Grades 6/7 and 16 percentage points at Grade 5 and above). Analysis of recruitment competitions from which people were appointed in 2008/09 indicates imbalances in outcome at an aggregate level across the equality categories.

The report is available on the NISRA website

Notes to editors:

1. This is the first annual report by the NI Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) on equality statistics in the NICS.
2. The equality categories reported on are gender, community background, age-group, ethnicity, and disability.
3. All media enquiries should be directed to DFP Communications Office, telephone 028 9052 7278.