Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of including targets for increasing the diversity of the STEM workforce in the UK Science and Technology Framework.

The Science and Technology Framework sets out 10 actions for the UK to become a science superpower. One action is to create an agile and responsive skills system, which delivers the skills needed in STEM and drives economic growth by 2030. The UK has a large, varied base of talent which responds to the needs of industry, academia and government, including in STEM.

There are no plans for government to introduce diversity targets for the STEM workforce. Given its breadth, this is an issue for employers and representative bodies to consider as part of their action to increase diversity.