Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what plans he has to increase the number of black permanent secretaries within the civil service.

The Declaration on Government Reform commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. There are a number of initiatives aimed at supporting Senior Civil Service ethnic minority talent including the Future Leaders Scheme, Senior Leaders Scheme and Accelerate. The latter programme brings together high performing ethnic minority Directors with aspirations to become future Permanent Secretaries.

The Declaration also emphasises the importance of drawing on talent from different sectors and encouraging movement in and out of the Civil Service. Our Public Leaders Programme is open to CEOs from across the public sector and brings together high performing deputy CEO-level public sector leaders from an ethnic minority background with aspirations to reach the highest levels of public service.

Representation of civil servants from an ethnic minority background is at an all-time high, having increased from 13.2% in 2020 to 14.3% in 2021. This is higher than the proportion of those aged 16-64 in the economically active population who are from an ethnic minority background (13.6%). Representation in our SCS is also at an all-time high at 10.6%. However, we know there is still more to do. For example, representation of ethnic minority colleagues at Director level is 6%, Directors General level is 5% and we currently have no Permanent Secretaries from an ethnic minority background. 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.