2nd Report - The role of Minister for Women and Equalities and the place of GEO in government
- HC No.
- HC 356
- Published
- 5 Jun 2018
- Items
- 0
- Government response
- Government response published 11 September 2018. Read the government's response ↗
Select committee: Women and Equalities Committee
Work of the Government Equalities Office inquiry
Closed
Opened 13 Sep 2017
Closed 13 Sep 2017
Women and Equalities Committee Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Inquiry scope (the committee's words)
In the long term, the GEO’s next move should be to the Cabinet Office. There, it should co-ordinate and monitor work across Whitehall on all equalities strands, with a remit to hold individual departments’ feet to the fire on mainstreaming equalities in their own policy areas. The part-time nature of the role of Minister for Women and Equalities contributes to instability, reduces its capacity and risks giving the impression that these issues are an afterthought rather than a thread that ought to run through all government policymaking. The Minister should also find a long-term home in the Cabinet Office as a full-time role. Government response published Read the Government response Read the Government response (PDF 106KB)
Where it stands
The inquiry is closed, opened 13 September 2017.
The committee has published 1 report, most recently 2nd Report - The role of Minister for Women and Equalities and the place of GEO in government on 5 June 2018.
The government's response
Published 11 September 2018.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Minister thanks the Committee for its work, says the Government "agrees that the GEO will need a permanent home in the future", and says it will look to provide one "at a suitable opportunity".
- The Government "may also use this opportunity to consider related arrangements", including where the role of the Women and Equalities Minister will sit.
- In the meantime the GEO will remain in the Department for Education "for the time being", reporting to the Minister, senior leaders in the Department for International Development and junior ministers in the Home Office.
- The Minister confirms that GEO's budget "will be captured as a separate line in the DFID budget".
- On new sub-committees or a cross-government equalities strategy, the Minister says any new group would need "a strong purpose" and should not cut across existing groups, citing the structures already in place.
Reports
- 2nd Report - The role of Minister for Women and Equalities and the place of GEO in government5 June 2018
Evidence
- 4 oral evidence sessionsLatest 12 December 2018
Recent activity
- Oral evidence session12 December 2018, Oral evidence
- 5th Special Report - The role of the Minister for Women and Equalities and the place of GEO in government: Government Response to the Committee’s Second Report of Session 2017–1911 September 2018, Report published
- Letter to the Minister for Women and Equalities, relating to the Government response to the report on The role of the Minister for Women and Equalities and the place of GEO in government, dated 6 September 201811 September 2018, Correspondence
Reports
Oral evidence sessions
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Correspondence
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