Recommendation 61

In 2018, our predecessor Committee found that allocation of the Minister for Women and Equalities role as an additional responsibility of a Cabinet Minister was sub-optimal. The role was susceptible to Cabinet reshuffles and its allocation seemed like an afterthought. Any benefits from policy synergies with a Secretary of State’s departmental policy priorities were incidental rather than being part of any planned strategy. These problems persist, as clearly demonstrated by allocation of the role in 2019 to the then Secretary of State for International Trade (The Rt Hon Liz Truss MP, now Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs), a particularly demanding and time-consuming brief in the context of the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union, and one which lacks clear crossover with the domestic equalities agenda. We note the Government’s allocation of the Levelling Up brief to The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Secretary of State in the newly named Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, ahead of publication of its Levelling Up White Paper. It is not clear what place, if any, he will have in the Government’s equalities machinery. We recommend the Government create a new full-time Cabinet level role of Secretary of State for Equalities and Levelling Up, to drive implementation of the expected Levelling Up White Paper and a new cross-departmental pan-equalities strategy. These should be considered complementary, high priority agendas, which should be driven from the heart of government. Consideration should also be given to bringing the more junior 24 Levelling Up and equality: a new framework for change roles of Minister for Women, Minister for Equalities and Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work into the Cabinet Office on a full-time basis.