Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, if their Department will publish an Ethnicity Pay Gap Report for financial year 2023-24 in line with the Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting guidance for employers published on 17 April 2023.

We are currently considering the best way to approach Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting in the Civil Service.

Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting is voluntary.

We are working with Civil Service HR colleagues and other Government departments to work through the details of the Ethnicity Pay Gap reporting guidance that was published on 17 April 2023.

In line with Gender Pay Gap Reporting, the Civil Service is looking to develop a consistent methodology to be used in departments to produce the data. The outcomes of this development work will inform whether we are able to publish a report for 2023/2024.

More generally the Civil Service is undertaking extensive work both centrally and within departments to promote diversity across its workplaces, including ethnicity.