Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, who the diversity champion is on his departmental board.

Christine Hewitt, Director, People, Capability and Change is the Board Diversity Champion in the Department for Communities and Local Government. We also have senior Diversity Champions for BAME, Race, Disability, Women, LGBT and Social Mobility as well as our Departmental Diversity Champion who work closely with our Networks in embedding Diversity and Inclusion messages and in promoting opportunities. Our Permanent Secretary is the Gender Champion for the Civil Service and all of our Champions and Networks are aligned with Civil Service governance, Networks and wider communities.

The Government takes its commitments to Diversity and Inclusion very seriously, and as a result the action in the Talent Action Plan 2015 has been completed and is referenced in the 2016 Talent Action Plan “progress to date” section. All departments, including new departments Department for Exiting the European Union (DExEU) and Department for International Trade (DIT) have nominated overall diversity champions. They are responsible for providing an overall insight for all protected characteristics.