Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.

As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, DESNZ are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero recruitment must follow the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act (CRaGA) 2010 legislation, which outlines the requirements to ensure that civil servants are recruited on merit, via fair and open competition.

Whilst recruitment into DESNZ does not focus solely on underrepresented groups we want to ensure all groups feel supported during the recruitment process and see DESNZ as an employer of choice. As part of our recruitment process, we:

• Run the Disability Confident Scheme and are a Disability Confident Leader
• Anonymise applications (including removing the name of educational institutions)
• Run attraction events targeted at underrepresented groups (ethnic minorities, women and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds)

DESNZ has run or supported the following programmes aimed at supporting underrepresented groups in the workforce in the past year:

• Autism Exchange Internship Programme - supporting young autistic people to gain meaningful work experience in the Civil Service.
• Care Leavers Programme - a programme run by Department for Education and a GFiE accredited programme, is an internship designed to improve outcomes for young people who have spent time in care.
• Change 100 Summer Internship Programme - a collaboration with the charity Leonard Cheshire to provide an internship for disabled students and graduates.
• upReach Summer Internship Programme - a collaboration with the charity upReach to offer an internship for university students from lower socio-economic backgrounds.
• Release on temporary licence programme (ROTL) - a programme that supports individuals who are eligible to be released from prison on temporary licence to work.
• Summer Internship Programme - the new revised programme for 2026 will support individuals in their final 2 years from a lower socio-economic backgrounds into placements in the Department, which aims to build a diverse pipeline into Fast Stream.