Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what resources he has dedicated to working on the Government's policy response to the findings of the race disparity audit, published on 10 October 2017.

Following the publication of the Race Disparity Audit’s Ethnicity facts and figures website on 10th October, the Prime Minister reaffirmed the Government’s commitment to tackle the disparities identified by the Audit.

The Government has already launched an initial programme of work to tackle some of the disparities. This includes the Department for Work and Pensions taking action to improve ethnic minority employment rates in twenty targeted areas, action by the Ministry of Justice to implement recommendations made in the recent Lammy Review and the Department for Education taking forward an external review to improve practice in exclusions. Further announcements on future Government work will be made in due course.

Tackling these disparities involve not just Government but local public services, the voluntary sector and businesses. The Government has made a commitment that it will “explain or change” key ethnic disparities identified by the Audit. Where significant disparities between ethnic groups cannot be explained by wider factors, the Government will work with
partners to change them.

The Race Disparity Unit in the Cabinet Office will be responsible for coordinating the Government’s response to the Audit. The Unit consists of 20 members of staff, including digital, data and policy professionals.