To ask the Minister for the Civil Service what arrangements are now being made to ensure that women civil servants are able to maintain employment with the civil service during child-bearing years.

Departments and agencies have a range of measures to enable staff who so choose to combine a career with domestic responsibilities. They include flexible working arrangements, career breaks and child care provision.

Am I right in thinking that the majority of civil servants are women, but that fewer than one in three of those going into the fast stream are women? Is it not in the interests of the nation as a whole, as well as of women, to have the very best people working at the top of the civil service which should include far more women than is the case now?

Yes, I agree with my hon. Friend. Clearly it is a matter for women themselves—whether or not they are mothers—to decide whether they want to enter or to remain in the civil service. As my hon. Friend has said, more women than men join the civil service. To help them, we have introduced provisions such as career breaks and part-time working, which mean that many more women can return to the civil service after taking a break due to child bearing.