Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Cabinet Office publication, Applicant guidance: Government Skills College of Experts, of 31 July 2026, Annex A: Diversity Monitoring for Equal Opportunities, for what reason the Cabinet Office is monitoring the gender identity of the College of Experts.

Government Skills launched an open recruitment campaign for its College of Experts on the 31st July 2026.

Government Skills is collecting this information to monitor fair and open competition in line with Equality Act protected characteristics.This data (and any other demographic information asked at recruitment) is used solely to identify recruitment trends and assess the diversity of the applicant pool and College members. Providing this information is voluntary, anonymous, and selection panels do not have access to it when making recruitment decisions.