Baroness Kramer

In line with reporting protocol and for disclosure control purposes, figures are suppressed where base headcounts include less than five individuals. BAME figures for the Leader of the Lords office cannot be disclosed.

In line with reporting protocol and for disclosure control purposes, BAME figures for the Office of the Advocate General for Scotland cannot be disclosed due to the small population. The Office of the Advocate General for Scotland has 5 members of staff total at SCS grade.

In line with reporting protocol and for disclosure control purposes, BAME figures for the Attorney General’s Office cannot be disclosed due to the small population. The Attorney General’s Office has a total of 5 members of staff at SCS1, SCS2, SCS3 and SCS4 grades combined.

The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

I refer the noble Lady to the answer given to PQs HL8861 and HL8862 as below -

Cross civil service information can be found at the Diversity and Inclusion dashboard at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/cabinet.office.diversity.and.inclusion#!/vizhome/CivilServiceDiversityandInclusiondashboard/Introduction?publish=yes

As the dashboard’s data tables show 7% of Cabinet Office Senior Civil Servants declared that they were from an ethinic minority.

18% of Cabinet Office overall civil servants declare that they are from an ethnic minority. Details of individual grades will not be disclosed to avoid identifying individuals.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Cross civil service information can be found at the Diversity and Inclusion dashboard at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/cabinet.office.diversity.and.inclusion#!/vizhome/CivilServiceDiversityandInclusiondashboard/Introduction?publish=yes

As the dashboard’s data tables show 7% of Cabinet Office Senior Civil Servants declared that they were from an ethinic minority.

18% of Cabinet Office overall civil servants declare that they are from an ethnic minority. Details of individual grades will not be disclosed to avoid identifying individuals.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.

Cross civil service information can be found at the Diversity and Inclusion dashboard at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/cabinet.office.diversity.and.inclusion#!/vizhome/CivilServiceDiversityandInclusiondashboard/Introduction?publish=yes

As the dashboard’s data tables show 7% of Cabinet Office Senior Civil Servants declared that they were from an ethinic minority.

18% of Cabinet Office overall civil servants declare that they are from an ethnic minority. Details of individual grades will not be disclosed to avoid identifying individuals.

A Ministerial Direction is a formal instruction by a Minister to the Chief Accounting Office of their department to proceed with a spending proposal. These are available on the GOV.UK website.

In the case of the British Business Bank plc, a Written Direction is a formal instruction issued by or on behalf of the British Business Bank’s Shareholder, the Secretary of State for BEIS, to proceed with a requested course of action after the Board has raised its concerns through a Reservation Notice. With respect to the Government’s Covid-19 Loan Schemes, all these notices are publicly available to view on the Bank’s website and GOV.UK.

The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy currently employs 21 Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) members of staff at SCS1; 3 at SCS2; 1 at SCS3; and 0 at SCS4.

As of September 2020, the department’s declaration rate for ethnicity is 77.2%, meaning that the figures in the table above are based on the percentage that was declared and not the department’s true population.

The numbers of senior civil servants who have declared their ethnicity as BAME is detailed in the attached table.

I refer to the published diversity and inclusion data for the Civil Service: www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-inclusion-dashboard/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-dashboard.

The Civil Service is committed to diversity and inclusion and to reflecting the country that we serve, and is taking targeted action to tackle underrepresentation, especially in the Senior Civil Service (SCS). Our workforce data shows that the Civil Service as a whole is broadly representative of the UK’s working population, but there is more to be done to ensure that this diversity is reflected at all levels across departments and professions. Our diversity and inclusion dashboard provides details of the percentage of SCS from an ethnic minority background, but this data does not differentiate the SCS grades (SCS1,2,3,4). Defra is unable to provide the breakdown by SCS grades due to the risk of identifying individuals.

The number of Department for International Trade (DIT) staff at Senior Civil Servant (SCS) grade (excluding UK Export Finance) who have self-reported as BAME on departmental systems is 18. Of these, 14 are SCS1 grade. To protect anonymity, where identifiable characteristics are 5 or lower these are redacted, so for the remaining 4 individuals (18 total BAME staff minus 14 SCS1 grade) their SCS grades are undisclosed.

The reference date for this data is 30^th September 2020. This figure only includes civil servants employed by DIT, working in the UK and on DIT payroll and UK based civil servants working overseas paid via FCDO payroll who are currently engaged in delivering DIT objectives. It is also dependent on individuals self-reporting as BAME on our HR systems. It does not include staff on loan to DIT from other government departments but who remain on their home departments payroll, contractors, military staff, people on secondment from other organisations, locally employed staff working overseas, those who are on loan or secondment out of DIT, on unpaid special leave or career break.

UK Export Finance (UKEF) is the most ethnically diverse department in the civil service, with 30.7% of staff from BAME backgrounds.

The numbers of BAME civil servants in UK Export Finance at senior civil service (SCS) grades is attached.

The focus for the Government, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and TfL is delivering and monitoring the stabilisation works and developing a business case for the second stage of works. A further meeting of the Taskforce will be considered when members put forward substantive agenda items for discussion.

The Taskforce publishes a report of each meeting on the Government website.

The Department for Transport and its Executive Agencies employ the following numbers of BAME Civil Servants at the grades listed:

SCS1: 6

SCS2: 2

SCS3: 0

SCS4: 0

These figures only include individuals who have self-identified as being of a BAME background; there are other individuals who have either not made a declaration or have indicated that they prefer not to disclose this information.

All of our employees are positively encouraged to record their diversity status, although any such declaration is on a voluntary basis. Therefore, we do not hold an exhaustive record of all Departmental employee ethnic origin.

In total, there are 10 people who have declared themselves as black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) senior civil servants (SCS) in the Department. The following table shows the breakdown split by the different SCS grades as requested and is accurate as of 30 September 2020.

The ethnicity data provided in the table is based on self-declaration and the declaration rate for ethnicity at SCS level is 62%. In addition, the data below excludes civil servants loaned out to other Government departments, civil servants who are currently on loan to the Department, and contractors.

As of 30 June 2020, 7.1% of SCS1 and 8.3% of SCS2 civil servants in the FCDO self-identified as BAME. In order to comply with the GDPR and in order to protect the anonymity of individual members of staff, unfortunately we cannot provide percentages for SCS3 and SCS4 civil servants as the actual numbers for staff self-identifying as BAME are fewer than five.

The changes referred to in the legislation apply to lenders in the credit industry, rather than Government departments. HMRC’s letters are always being reviewed and improved to follow best practice in debt collection. At the start of the pandemic, HMRC reviewed and amended the majority of their debt collection letters so they were tailored to taxpayers’ changing circumstances and to promote the support available to them.

The Annual Report and Accounts 19/20 includes the percentage of Senior Civil Servants from an ethnic minority background.

The Annual Report and Accounts 19/20 shows that the percentage of SCS that are from minority ethnic backgrounds is 9.6% (Core Treasury grade diversity as at 31 March 2020 table on page 98). It also shows that the SCS total FTE is 129.9 (Core Treasury – staff composition at 31 March 2020 FTE table on page 98). Using these numbers, it can be calculated that the number of SCS from this cohort is 12.4 FTE

We cannot provide a breakdown of ethnicity by grade due to the small number of Directors and Director Generals. To do so would risk people being identifiable.

Defence has been working hard to achieve a more diverse workforce. However, progress in terms of the representative rates of our people – both military and civilian – has been too slow. It is clear there is still much further to go if we are to successfully attract and retain diverse talent both now and in the future. That is why we have renewed our levels of ambition at the highest levels in Defence as we work to fulfil the key objective in our 2018-2030 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to eliminate discrimination and improve diversity throughout Defence. Work is ongoing to improve all aspects of diversity in the Ministry of Defence (MOD), including through reviewing Senior Civil Servant recruitment processes and better targeted marketing and communications.

As at 1 April 2020, in the MOD (Main), the sum total of Senior Civil Servants (SCS) self-declaring as Black, Asian or Minority Ethnic (BAME) was less than 10; of those, there were fewer than 10 SCS at Pay Band 1 and fewer than five at Pay Band 2. At the same date, the SCS in MOD Main was comprised of, respectively, 0.5 per cent and 0.8 per cent of the total MOD Main BAME and White workforce.

The MOD publishes biannual statistics on diversity declarations for Armed Forces personnel and MOD civilian staff. The latest editions can be found at the following links:

https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/uk-armed-forces-biannual-diversity-statistics-index

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/mod-diversity-dashboard-2020

The Department collects this information from employees who declare their ethnicity on a voluntary basis. Due to the number of SCS declaring and the data protection risk this creates, we are unable to breakdown this information by SCS grade from 1 to 4, as requested.

Published Annual Civil Service statistics include BAME representation by Department and can be found (attached) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2020

At the end of June 2020, 17 SCS PB1 employees in the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies had declared their ethnicity as BAME. The number of declared BAME employees in the other SCS grades is too small to disclose in accordance with the Data Protection Act.

The Ministry of Justice is taking action to increase the diversity of staff recruited to the Senior Civil Service. This has included a comprehensive review of SCS recruitment, looking at every aspect of the delivery model to encourage interest and ensure fairness, consistency and transparency for prospective candidates. This covers, but is not limited to: team resource and systems; inclusive recruitment guidance; marketing and attraction; job analysis; diversity data reporting; the assessment process; and panel composition and training.

Civil Service wide diversity data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-inclusion-dashboard/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-dashboard.

The Northern Ireland Office is a small department with less than 200 staff. As there are fewer than five BAME SCS members in the total cohort of 16 SCS grades in the department, figures cannot be provided in order to protect the privacy and identity of individuals concerned.

The Civil Service publishes details of the percentage of senior civil servants from an ethnic minority background in the diversity and inclusion dashboard, which can be viewed here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-inclusion-dashboard/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-dashboard

The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales has no staff at SCS3 or SCS4. The number of staff in SCS1 and SCS2 is five or fewer. We are unable therefore to confirm the number of BAME staff to prevent potential identification of individuals.