Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will provide a list of (a) professional staff networks and (b) social clubs operating within his Department; and if he will provide the (i) budgets and (ii) FTE staff time allocated to each group within each of the last three years.

The department has a variety of staff networks for all employees to join on a voluntary basis.

We have 11 core diversity staff networks, these are 50+, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), Carers, Disability, EU National, Interfaith, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) +, Neurodivergence, Parents, Social Mobility and Women’s Networks. Each core network has a budget of up to £3,000 per year and network chairs have 10% corporate time allowance for leading network activities.

The remaining staff networks do not receive a budget or corporate time allowance, these are Bereavement, Christian, Coaching Community, Eating Disorder, Fertility, Governor and Trustee, Greener, Hindu, Menopause, Positivity Wellbeing Group, Sikh, Vegan, Women of Colour, Working through Cancer, and Young People.

Teams or individuals may engage with social activities or clubs outside of work however this is not monitored by the department. Some of our employees are members of the Civil Service Sports Club (CSSC) but we do not have data on membership. CSSC provide sports, leisure, benefits, and discounts to our employees for personal use. Membership costs are paid by employees.