Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement by the Baroness Neville-Rolfe on 14 May (HLWS462), whether they intend to (1) continue with the ministerial spending controls and presumption against external equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) spending, (2) centralise and consolidate all EDI guidance across the Civil Service; and what is their policy on restricting diversity network time during core working hours in the Civil Service.

The controls outlined in the Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance which was published on 14 May, including those relating to ministerial controls, a presumption against external equality, diversity and inclusion expenditure and centralisation of equality, diversity and inclusion guidance remain in place.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Staff Network time allocation is agreed between networks and departments as the employer. The majority of staff time spent on diversity staff networks is voluntary and unpaid.