Public Appointments: Diversity

Thursday 27th June 2019 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Oliver Dowden)]

Today I have published the Government’s response to Lord Holmes’ review into opening up public appointments to disabled people, alongside a refreshed public appointments diversity action plan 2019.

In 2017 the Government published their public appointments diversity action plan making the moral and business case for more diverse public appointments and also setting out our goals and a 10 point action plan on diversity. As part of that action plan, we commissioned Lord Holmes to review the barriers preventing disabled people from taking up public appointments and he reported back in December 2018.

The Government have now responded to Lord Holmes’ recommendations and I take this opportunity to thank him again for his invaluable work and efforts in this important area.

We remain committed to bringing more people from diverse backgrounds into public appointments. The Government have set out how they will take forward Lord Holmes’ recommendations and will include these actions in a refreshed public appointments diversity action plan 2019, published today and deposited in the Libraries of both Houses.

The Government accept the principle of all the recommendations that Lord Holmes has made and believes that there is wider applicability to removing barriers for all groups, not just disabled people. The diversity action plan recommits the Government to their ambitions that 50% of all public appointees are female and 14% of public appointments should be from ethnic minorities by 2022. In December 2020, the Government will also consider the case for setting an ambition in relation to disabled people, once they have taken steps to improve the data.

Attachments can be viewed online at http://www. parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-statement/Commons/2019-06-27/HCWS1670/.

[HCWS1670]