Recommendation 58

The Government Equalities Office’s move into the coordinating centre of government, in the Cabinet Office, and the potential expansion of its coordinating role with the inception of the Equality Hub, is positive but the benefits are yet to be fully realised. We strongly welcome the intended permanence of the move, which will avoid much of the unnecessary and costly disruption of departmental and ministerial churn experienced during its history as an itinerant unit within government. However, elements of the Government’s equalities machinery remain too fragmented and lack Levelling Up and equality: a new framework for change 23 coherence. The Government is pursuing elements of the previous administration’s plans on equalities while dropping others, with no coherent rationale. Above all, the lack of a published cross-departmental pan-equalities strategy and Action Plan is a key weakness.