Kirsty Blackman

The Government has set out our expectation that organisations follow the clarity the ruling provides. The EHRC’s interim update provides a perspective on how the judgment and Equality Act are practically applied in some areas. The EHRC has already committed to supporting organisations, including workplaces, with its updated statutory Code of Practice following consultation; we will engage them as necessary as they progress this work.

The Supreme Court’s ruling has brought clarity and confidence for women and single-sex services providers. The Government will work closely with the EHRC as they develop definitive guidance. All government departments should follow the clarity the ruling provides.

We are committed to delivering better life chances for all - breaking the link between background and success.

At the Budget, the Chancellor announced increases to both the National Minimum Wage (16.3% for those aged 18-20) and the National Living Wage (6.7% for those 21 and over), as well as a £240 million Get Britain Working package to improve support for people who want to develop their careers (as well as for those who are economically inactive or unemployed).Through our Mission-driven Government, we will build the skills people need for opportunity and growth.

The Government will continue to draw on the work of the Office for National Statistics and others, such as the independent Social Mobility Commission, to understand the links between pay and socio-economic background.

In the central Cabinet Office communications team, there are a total of 37 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.

Of this total, 14 are in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.

This is the latest available data from June 2024.

Information on Cabinet Office salary bands can be found in the Statistical tables - Civil Service Statistics: 2024 found here.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.

The Cabinet Office commissions each Government department and agency individually to request data to be included in the reports titled ‘Data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers’ that are published on GOV.UK.

The Department for Work and Pensions complies with correspondence reporting and data requests from the Cabinet Office. The data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers 2023 includes performance when responding to correspondence from members of devolved Parliaments and Assemblies. This information has not been separated out in this or previous reports. Correspondence performance data for 2024 will be published in due course.

The Department for Work and Pensions complies with correspondence reporting and data requests from the Cabinet Office. The data on responses to correspondence from MPs and Peers 2023 includes performance when responding to correspondence from members of devolved Parliaments and Assemblies. This information has not been separated out in this or previous reports. Correspondence performance data for 2024 will be published in due course.

In the central Department for Business and Trade communications team, there are a total of 115 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.

Of this total, 22 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities. This is the latest available data from June 2024.

The Department has not undertaken any such assessment. Companies are already required to disclose employee matters and can choose to include socioeconomic aspects where relevant to their business. For example, all large companies in the UK must include information on employees as part of their Annual Report’s Section 172(1) Statement. This should detail how employees are consulted, and their views considered, in decision making, ensuring employees of all backgrounds feel involved in how the company is run. It is a matter of good practice to collect data on employee background that the company can choose to communicate its workforce inclusivity.

As of July 2025, there were 100 staff members based in Aberdeen, comprising a wide variety of roles within the department.

The development of the Aberdeen Energy Campus is in its initial stages. In line with the Cabinet Office Thematic Campus principles, we are looking to determine the most appropriate model for the location, working closely with other government departments and arms-length bodies. Additionally, departmental workforce strategy and business planning outcomes will play a significant role in shaping and influencing this process.

DESNZ is currently analysing the responses received. We will publish a government response setting out our next steps in due course.

Aberdeen was announced as one of DESNZ’s second headquarters in December 2023.

This commitment to the location underlines the importance of Aberdeen in our Net Zero planning.

As of May 2025, there were 100 staff members based in Aberdeen, comprising a wide variety of roles within the department. The ambition is to increase this number and for DESNZ to continue to grow in Aberdeen, with the creation of Great British Energy and the possibility of other Scotland-based Arm's Length Bodies also becoming part of the Energy Campus.

The establishment of a new Energy Campus in Aberdeen is part of the UK Government’s Plan for Change, aimed at fostering collaboration. By relocating skilled roles to the same town or city, government campuses bring together civil servants with diverse skills and expertise through a shared policy or delivery focus. This approach aims to address issues and improve services for working people across the country.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has indicated that further details on the Energy Campus will be set out in due course following the completion of the current Spending Review process.

Aberdeen was announced as one of DESNZ’s second headquarters in December 2023.

This commitment to the location underlines the importance of Aberdeen in our Net Zero planning.

As of May 2025, there were 100 staff members based in Aberdeen, comprising a wide variety of roles within the department. The ambition is to increase this number and for DESNZ to continue to grow in Aberdeen, with the creation of Great British Energy and the possibility of other Scotland-based Arm's Length Bodies also becoming part of the Energy Campus.

The establishment of a new Energy Campus in Aberdeen is part of the UK Government’s Plan for Change, aimed at fostering collaboration. By relocating skilled roles to the same town or city, government campuses bring together civil servants with diverse skills and expertise through a shared policy or delivery focus. This approach aims to address issues and improve services for working people across the country.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has indicated that further details on the Energy Campus will be set out in due course following the completion of the current Spending Review process.

Aberdeen was announced as one of DESNZ’s second headquarters in December 2023.

This commitment to the location underlines the importance of Aberdeen in our Net Zero planning.

As of May 2025, there were 100 staff members based in Aberdeen, comprising a wide variety of roles within the department. The ambition is to increase this number and for DESNZ to continue to grow in Aberdeen, with the creation of Great British Energy and the possibility of other Scotland-based Arm's Length Bodies also becoming part of the Energy Campus.

The establishment of a new Energy Campus in Aberdeen is part of the UK Government’s Plan for Change, aimed at fostering collaboration. By relocating skilled roles to the same town or city, government campuses bring together civil servants with diverse skills and expertise through a shared policy or delivery focus. This approach aims to address issues and improve services for working people across the country.

The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has indicated that further details on the Energy Campus will be set out in due course following the completion of the current Spending Review process.

In 2023/24, Ofcom had 189 full-time equivalent posts in the Online Safety Group. This does not include staff who work on online safety in other groups such as legal, enforcement and research. Ofcom’s latest staff numbers will be available as part the Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25, which will be presented to Parliament.

The government has ensured Ofcom has the funding it needs to deliver online safety regulation effectively, with £72.6 million allocated for online safety spend in 2025/26. This decision followed a business case process that included Ofcom submitting its requirements.

In 2023/24, Ofcom had 189 full-time equivalent posts in the Online Safety Group. This does not include staff who work on online safety in other groups such as legal, enforcement and research. Ofcom’s latest staff numbers will be available as part the Annual Report and Accounts for 2024/25, which will be presented to Parliament.

The government has ensured Ofcom has the funding it needs to deliver online safety regulation effectively, with £72.6 million allocated for online safety spend in 2025/26. This decision followed a business case process that included Ofcom submitting its requirements.

In the central Department for Culture, Media & Sport communications team, there are a total of 43.54 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.

Of this total, 13 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.

This is the latest available data from June 2024.

In the central Department for Education communications team, there are a total of 93.82 full-time equivalent (FTE) Government Communication Service professionals.

Of this total, 27.80 FTE are in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities. This is the latest available data from June 2024.

The department does not hold salary band information in the format requested. Our HR system holds positions based on team name and grade and not specific job titles with corresponding salary costs.

Defra Group Communications is the first shared service communications team in Whitehall, merging 6 geographically dispersed communications teams from the core department and Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs). Alongside the department, the team works to the Environment Agency, Natural England, the Animal and Plant Health Agency, Forestry Commission and Rural Payments Agency.

The teams work across all communications disciplines in support of the policy and operational priorities including a frontline team across the country providing a 24-hour communications response to incidents, working with local media and partners to give communities timely information they need to take action and prepare. This includes local and national media, planning, stakeholder engagement, digital communications and internal.

Defra Group Communications staff work in an agile way to 6 organisations, it is not possible to provide granular full-time equivalent figures for each part of the group.

The communications team employs professionals across all Civil Service grades, you can find more details on the salaries across Civil Service grades here - Civil Service Grades Explained - Defra Jobs - UK Government.

In the central Department for Transport communications team, there are a total of 91.01 Full Time Equivalent Government Communication Service professionals.

Of this total, 31.82 work in the media discipline which covers press and media responsibilities.

This is the latest available data from June 2024.

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 makes no changes to existing roles and responsibilities regarding safety or tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. Tackling crime is the responsibility of the British Transport Police, who will continue to police the rail network following the transition of passenger services into public ownership. Safety regulation will remain the responsibility of the independent regulator, the Office of Rail and Road.

The National Travel Attitudes Survey on perceptions of safety when walking, cycling and using public transport, found that a ‘poorly lit vehicle or carriage’ was the joint seventh most popular reason for feeling unsafe when travelling on a public transport vehicle. The Rail Safety and Standards Board sets requirements around lighting for new rolling stock. We continue to work with the rail industry including the Rail Delivery Group and the British Transport Police to ensure the rail network remains a safe environment for the travelling public.

The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act 2024 makes no changes to existing roles and responsibilities regarding safety or tackling crime and anti-social behaviour. As such, there is no reason to expect any adverse impacts. The Government expects publicly owned train operators to focus relentlessly on the interests of passengers rather than shareholders, resulting in better outcomes for passengers across a range of areas, which will include personal security on trains.

Tackling violence against women and girls is a priority for the Government. We have set the ambitious target to halve this figure in the next decade using every lever available to us. The Department is working closely with the central mission delivery unit in the Cabinet Office to achieve the aims set out in the Government’s Safer Streets mission.

The British Transport Police will continue to police the rail network following the transition of passenger services into public ownership to prevent and investigate crime, and in particular to tackle violence against women and girls.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament and sets out our ambition to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. From the beginning of our time in government we have acted on child poverty including through increasing the minimum wage, the Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and the removal of the two child limit from April 2026.

In addition to the existing statutory duty on Government to publish poverty statistics annually, we will be monitoring progress using two complementary headline metrics. These will measure overall child poverty using our leading measure of relative low income and our new measure of deep material poverty that looks at families’ ability to afford essentials as well as their income and housing costs.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans to track progress against these metrics as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning. There will continue to be a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society as we develop milestones and plans for delivering, monitoring and evaluating our strategy.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament and sets out our ambition to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. From the beginning of our time in government we have acted on child poverty including through increasing the minimum wage, the Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and the removal of the two child limit from April 2026.

In addition to the existing statutory duty on Government to publish poverty statistics annually, we will be monitoring progress using two complementary headline metrics. These will measure overall child poverty using our leading measure of relative low income and our new measure of deep material poverty that looks at families’ ability to afford essentials as well as their income and housing costs.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans to track progress against these metrics as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning. There will continue to be a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society as we develop milestones and plans for delivering, monitoring and evaluating our strategy.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

Our Child Poverty Strategy fulfils our commitment to reducing poverty this Parliament and sets out our ambition to fundamentally fix the structural drivers of child poverty as part of a long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change. From the beginning of our time in government we have acted on child poverty including through increasing the minimum wage, the Fair Repayment Rate for deductions from Universal Credit, and the removal of the two child limit from April 2026.

In addition to the existing statutory duty on Government to publish poverty statistics annually, we will be monitoring progress using two complementary headline metrics. These will measure overall child poverty using our leading measure of relative low income and our new measure of deep material poverty that looks at families’ ability to afford essentials as well as their income and housing costs.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out our plans to track progress against these metrics as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability, and continued learning. There will continue to be a dedicated team in government that, with Ministerial oversight, will work across government, the public and private sectors and civil society as we develop milestones and plans for delivering, monitoring and evaluating our strategy.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

We want to see an enduring reduction in child poverty over this parliament as part of long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out how we will track progress and evaluate success as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and continued learning. It can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK.

We will use two complementary headline metrics, relative poverty (after housing costs) and deep material poverty, as well as comprehensive programme of analysis focussing on the drivers of child poverty and the impact of specific interventions.

Relative low income poverty is an internationally recognised income measure of poverty which reflects changing living standards over time. Deep material poverty is a new measure based on material deprivation, which reflects our commitment to addressing deeper child poverty. It is measured based on what families report they can afford.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

We will continue to have a dedicated team in government that works with departments across the Government, the wider public, private sectors and civil society, to keep focus on tackling this stain of child poverty, with oversight from Ministers across Government.

We want to see an enduring reduction in child poverty over this parliament as part of long-term, 10-year strategy for lasting change.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Framework, published alongside the Strategy, sets out how we will track progress and evaluate success as part of our ongoing commitment to transparency, accountability and continued learning. It can be found here: Child Poverty Strategy: Monitoring and Evaluation Framework - GOV.UK.

We will use two complementary headline metrics, relative poverty (after housing costs) and deep material poverty, as well as comprehensive programme of analysis focussing on the drivers of child poverty and the impact of specific interventions.

Relative low income poverty is an internationally recognised income measure of poverty which reflects changing living standards over time. Deep material poverty is a new measure based on material deprivation, which reflects our commitment to addressing deeper child poverty. It is measured based on what families report they can afford.

We will publish a baseline report next summer which will set out the latest statistics and evidence, with annual reporting thereafter to monitor and evaluate progress.

We will continue to have a dedicated team in government that works with departments across the Government, the wider public, private sectors and civil society, to keep focus on tackling this stain of child poverty, with oversight from Ministers across Government.