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Whitehall has fewer female bosses under Cameron, says Labour Whitehall has fewer female bosses under Cameron, says Labour
(about 11 hours later)
David Cameron has overseen a shameful fall in the number of female Whitehall chiefs since taking more control over hiring at the top of the civil service, Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has said.David Cameron has overseen a shameful fall in the number of female Whitehall chiefs since taking more control over hiring at the top of the civil service, Tom Watson, Labour’s deputy leader, has said.
Labour’s second most senior politician warned that it sent the wrong signal to aspiring civil servants that 85% of permanent secretaries are now white men. Labour analysis has found that just three permanent secretaries out of 16 are women and none is from an ethnic minority.It comes five years after the civil service reached a peak of 50/50 gender balance in permanent secretaries in the 16 top departments.Since then, the ratio of women to men at the top of the civil service has dropped dramatically, with male permanent secretaries announced as replacements for women twice in recent months following the departures of Dame Una O’Brien and Lin Homer.Watson, who is also a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “When the vast majority of senior civil service posts are occupied by men it sends out a terrible message to women in Whitehall and in the wider workforce. The civil service has become less representative of the country it serves during the prime minister’s time in office and that is a truly shameful record.”Labour said the lack of gender balance was “particularly politically significant because Cameron gave himself power to personally appoint from a shortlist, whereas previous prime ministers only had the power to veto a recommendation of the civil service commission”.The party said Cameron appointed every one of the 16 top permanent secretaries into their current positions and none of them now is a legacy decision.The prime minister had stressed his commitment to gender equality in his 2015 Conservative party conference speech, saying: “Opportunity won’t mean anything if [women] grow up in a country where they get paid less because of their gender rather than how good they are at their work.”Louise Haigh, another shadow Cabinet Office minister, highlighted the similar lack of gender balance on the civil service board, which is ultimately responsible for the government’s diversity strategy.“Across the civil service diversity is increasing at a glacial pace, but when it comes to those appointments in the gift of the top Tories it is actually in tyre-screeching reverse,” she said. Labour’s second most senior politician warned that it sent the wrong signal to aspiring civil servants that 85% of permanent secretaries are now white men. Labour analysis has found that just three permanent secretaries out of 16 are women and none is from an ethnic minority.
It comes five years after the civil service reached a peak of 50/50 gender balance in permanent secretaries in the 16 top departments.
Since then, the ratio of women to men at the top of the civil service has dropped dramatically, with male permanent secretaries announced as replacements for women twice in recent months following the departures of Dame Una O’Brien and Lin Homer.
Watson, who is also a shadow Cabinet Office minister, said: “When the vast majority of senior civil service posts are occupied by men it sends out a terrible message to women in Whitehall and in the wider workforce. The civil service has become less representative of the country it serves during the prime minister’s time in office and that is a truly shameful record.”
Labour said the lack of gender balance was “particularly politically significant because Cameron gave himself power to personally appoint from a shortlist, whereas previous prime ministers only had the power to veto a recommendation of the civil service commission”.
The party said Cameron appointed every one of the 16 top permanent secretaries into their current positions and none of them now is a legacy decision.
The prime minister had stressed his commitment to gender equality in his 2015 Conservative party conference speech, saying: “Opportunity won’t mean anything if [women] grow up in a country where they get paid less because of their gender rather than how good they are at their work.”
Louise Haigh, another shadow Cabinet Office minister, highlighted the similar lack of gender balance on the civil service board, which is ultimately responsible for the government’s diversity strategy.
“Across the civil service diversity is increasing at a glacial pace, but when it comes to those appointments in the gift of the top Tories it is actually in tyre-screeching reverse,” she said.
Matthew Hancock, a Cabinet Office minister, said: “Since the launch of the civil service talent action plan in 2014 we’ve improved support for returning mothers, increased the number of job shares, and put a halt to all-male interview panels.
“We’re making progress. Today, women make up 54% of our civil servants and 44% of new public appointments went to women last year. The Bridge Report I commissioned also found that we’re improving gender access to the upper echelons of the civil service. We are determined to build a civil service that reflects the Britain it serves.”