Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Civil Service Workforce Plan 2016-2020 how many meetings the diversity champion held with race equality groups in on the setting of key targets for inclusivity on grounds of race.

Since publication of the Civil Service Workforce Plan 2016-2020 the Civil Service Permanent Secretary Race Champion, Richard Heaton, has met regularly with internal race equality groups including staff networks and departmental race champions. He has also met or spoken with external race equality experts, including the Civil Service Diversity Advisor Karen Blackett and external search consultants to discuss the priority areas for the Civil Service. The Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy was published in October 2017 which sets out our plans to continue to increase the representation of ethnic minority staff at all levels across the Civil Service.