Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to improve the representation of (a) women and (b) ethnic minorities from low socio-economic backgrounds in senior civil service roles.

The Cabinet Office supports a number of Civil Service initiatives aimed at supporting colleagues to reach the Senior Civil Service from a diverse range of backgrounds including the Civil Service Fast Stream, Future Leaders Scheme and Senior Leaders Scheme. In addition, the Cabinet Office runs an internal Senior Sponsorship Scheme - a bespoke progression offer for the G6/7 talent pipeline, including SCS application support and SCS sponsorship.

The 2021 cohort of the Future Leaders Scheme had nearly a quarter of delegates from a lower socio economic background, over a fifth were from an ethnic minority background and more than half of successful candidates for the FLS were women. The 2020 Sponsorship Scheme was entirely made of ethnic minority colleagues. Over a third of the 2022 Sponsorship Scheme cohort identify as being from a lower socio-economic background.