Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many FTE equivalent staff in (a) their Department and (b) each Arm's Length Body it sponsors are dedicated to fulfilment of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED); what the (i) annual employment and (ii) total annual cost incurred is as a result of PSED and compliance with PSED for each of those bodies; what the outputs are from the work of PSED teams and personnel dedicated to PSED; and if they will publish an assessment of their Department's compliance with PSED.

DWP, as a public authority, is required to comply with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED). Responsibility for meeting these requirements is embedded across the Department and forms part of the responsibilities of all DWP employees. Guidance and support relating to the PSED are available to staff through departmental intranet resources.

There are no dedicated roles whose sole purpose is the fulfilment of the PSED, reflecting the Department's approach of embedding equality considerations into policy development, service design and delivery.

It is not possible to provide the total annual cost of compliance with the PSED across the Department, as responsibility for considering and meeting the Duty is integrated into a wide range of activities undertaken by employees as part of their normal roles.

The Department publishes information annually to demonstrate compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty. This information includes data relating to both employees and service users and is published through the Department's Annual Report and Accounts (DWP annual reports and accounts - GOV.UK).

DWP’s sponsored Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) are independent public bodies directly responsible for their own compliance. Information regarding ALBs’ internal resource allocation is not held by DWP.