Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what resources the Government has allocated to increasing diversity in senior civil service roles.

The Declaration on Government Reform commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme.

As an example of representation, the proportion of ethnic minority civil servants has risen from 9.2% in 2011 to 14.3% in 2021 (up from 13.2% in 2020). This exceeds 13.6%, the proportion of the UK’s economically active population who are from an ethnic minority. Since 2011, the proportion of civil servants with a declared disability has increased across all grades and is now 13.6%.

The positive increase in representation has been a steady incremental change over the last four years, underpinned by a programme of work including:

• interventions to support internal career progression to SCS,

• accelerating work on the external SCS talent pool - by creating a Task and Finish group to oversee development of the pool and improve representation of disabled and ethnic minority senior leaders,

• mandated sponsorship of ethnic minority talent by Civil Service Senior Leadership,

• a bespoke career progression offer for the G6/7 talent pipeline, including SCS application support, mentoring and sponsorship,

• greater promotion of internal talent schemes such as the Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme, supporting events organised by participants and

• regular engagement with cross-Government Employee Networks to promote talent development at all levels.

Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity as outlined in the Declaration on Government Reform across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades. To build on the progress made over recent years and target where improvement is still needed, the Government will take a holistic approach to SCS recruitment to identify and remove barriers to underrepresented groups entering and progressing in the SCS.