Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Women and Equalities, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of introducing the new socio-economic duty on public bodies.

My team is working with public bodies to understand the potential impact of introducing the socio-economic duty. While the duty has not yet been commenced in England, it is in force in Scotland and Wales.

In addition, a number of public authorities in England have voluntarily adopted the duty, either in full or in part. We know that those bodies that have implemented the duty say that it has enhanced their efforts to address socio-economic disadvantage. We are learning from this experience as we take action to commence the duty in England.

We are taking forward work to make sure that commencement of the duty in England is as effective as possible, driving efforts across the country to break down barriers to opportunity and making sure there is no class ceiling on people’s ambitions.