Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 January 2025 to Question 100334 on Public Appointments: Social Class, and the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s annual report of 2024-25 published in December 2025, on what date in 2024-25 did the Cabinet Office start to ask applicants for public appointments of their social class; and his Department provides guidance; and whether it is compulsory for applicants to provide this data.

Socio-economic background questions were added to the application process on the public appointments digital service in May 2024. All candidates are required to provide a response to these questions as part of their application, but they can state ‘prefer not to say’ if they wish. Guidance on completing diversity questions, including socio-economic background, is provided to candidates via the digital service.