Overall decline
The Commissioners welcome the fact that women are competing successfully for the most senior jobs in the Civil Service. However, if women are being less successful in gaining appointments to jobs outside the Top 200 then the pool of women civil servants who can compete for the top jobs in the future will be depleted.
We note that the latest statistics published on www.civilservice.gov.uk/ indicate that in 2006 the percentage of women in the Civil Service as a whole was 52.9% and the percentage of women in the whole of the Senior Civil Service was 32.1%.
We will continue to monitor and report on this important issue.