One is from the Thomas Coram Research Institute, one from the Local Government Association, one from the National Consumer Council and two from MORI, who administer the panel. Among civil servants, there are up to five representatives from different parts of the Cabinet Office, two from the Department of Health, one from the Home Office, one from the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, one from the Department for Education and Employment, one from the Employment Service, two from the Scottish Executive and one from the Office of the First Minister and Deputy First Minister for Northern Ireland. Membership of the group is liable to change as individuals change jobs or responsibilities. Departmental press officers are appointed to serve Ministers and the Department in which they work. They are not appointed as personal press officers.
Some special advisers advise on media related issues.
Questions about them are a matter for the individual Ministers concerned. To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the measures the Government have taken to ensure equal pay within the Civil Service since May 1997. Guidance was issued by the Cabinet Office to all Departments and agencies in October 1998 in order to raise awareness of the implications of equal pay legislation. The guidance was subsequently incorporated into the Civil Service Management Code which requires Departments and agencies to undertake periodic equal pay reviews. The Modernising Government White Paper published in March 1999 set out the Government's plans to modernise the public services including their pay systems.