Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether any leadership and promotion schemes run by the Care Equality Commission are restricted to ethnic minorities and other protected characteristics.

The Department has interpreted the question as referring to the Care Quality Commission (CQC), as there is no public body called the ‘Care Equality Commission’.

The CQC operates a positive action development programme aimed at addressing barriers to career progression, aligning with the ambitions set out in the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, to support colleagues from ethnic minority backgrounds and disabled colleagues.

Participation in the programme does not guarantee promotion, as all appointments are made through fair and open competition in accordance with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.