Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment the Government has made of the impact of its plans to pause civil service fast-stream recruitment on (a) organisational effectiveness and (b) diversity in recruitment.

The Fast Stream is a talent pipeline for government departments and professions. It is only right we pause bringing in candidates as departments set out how they might achieve the Prime Minister’s commitment to return the Civil Service to the size it was in 2016.

Whilst we pause the Fast Stream for the 2023 intake, we will take the opportunity to further improve the Fast Stream offer. This reform will ensure that when the scheme reopens, it is focused on driving up specialist skills in the Civil Service, as well as improving the regional representation of the Fast Stream. In this sense, both organisational effectiveness and diversity recruitment can be enhanced.

We will also seek to maintain other approaches towards diversity and inclusion in recruitment - such as continuous improvement of our assessment and selection approaches. The Declaration on Government Reform set out our commitment to a skilled and capable Civil Service, our united Campus for government training and Curriculum framework will enable all Civil Servants to access quality, relevant training.