Government Equalities Office

Department overview
Formed October 2007
Jurisdiction England
Headquarters London, England
Annual budget £65 million in 2011-12[1]
Minister responsible
Website gov.uk/government/organisations/government-equalities-office

The Government Equalities Office (GEO) is part of the Department for International Development (DfID) of HM Government. It was created in October 2007 when the Women and Equality Unit, based within the Department for Communities and Local Government was converted into an independent department. The department was subsequently merged into the Home Office, before transferring to the DCMS on 4 September 2012 following a Cabinet reshuffle. In July 2014, it was transferred to the Department for Education in that Cabinet reshuffle. In January 2018, the Equalities Office was returned to the Home Office under the leadership of Amber Rudd. Since April it has been transferred to the Department for International Development under the leadership of Penny Mordaunt. Its current director is Hilary Spencer.

The office has lead responsibility for gender equality within the UK government, together with a responsibility to provide advice on all other forms of equality (including age, race, sexual orientation and disability) to other UK government departments. The day-to-day responsibility for policy on these issues was not transferred to GEO when it was created.

The Equalities Office currently leads the Discrimination Law Review, which developed the Equality Act 2010 that replaced previous anti-discrimination legislation.

Ministers

The Government Equalities Office Ministers are as follows: [2]

Minister Rank Portfolio
The Rt Hon Penny Mordaunt MP Minister for Women and Equalities (also International Development Secretary) Overall responsibility for the Government Equalities Office, policy on women, policy on sexual orientation and transgender equality, cross-government equality strategy and legislation [3]
The Rt Hon Baroness Williams of Trafford Minister for Equalities Overall responsibility for policy on sexual orientation and transgender equality. Cross government equality strategy and legislation.
Victoria Atkins MP Minister for Women Overall responsibility for policy on gender equality

Budget

The budget for the Equalities Office reached £76 million in 2010-11. Following the spending review this is set to decrease each year, to £47.1 million in 2014-15.[4]

Controversies

In June 2011 it emerged that female staff at the Equalities Office received 7.7% more pay than males on average. The information came to light following a Freedom of Information request by MP Dominic Raab. The enquiry also revealed that almost two thirds of the department's 107 staff were female. Raab criticised the department for double standards, stating "It undermines the credibility of the equality and diversity agenda, if bureaucrats at the government equalities office are preaching about unequal representation and the pay gap, whilst practising reverse".[5] The differences between the genders became marked from 2008 under the leadership of Harriet Harman with the pay gap almost doubling from that time and six out of seven new jobs going to women.[6]

In an interview about her role, director Hilary Spencer said "I offer one-off career chats to people, including many women, who are trying to work out whether they can make the leap to the senior civil service and whether that’s compatible with family life. Interestingly, I have very few conversations with men who wonder whether getting to Deputy Director is compatible with family life. There is still a point when women have children where they tend to take the brunt of the childcare and responsibilities."<ref>"Meet the woman in charge of gender and equality policy for the UK | Apolitical". Apolitical. Retrieved 2018-04-23. </ref

References

  1. ↑ Spending Review 2010 (PDF). London: HM Treasury. 2010. p. 88. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  2. ↑ Cabinet Office List of Government Departments and Ministers: Government Equalities Office
  3. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/people/nicky-morgan
  4. ↑ Government Equalities Office Spending Review settlement
  5. ↑ Hope, Christopher (14 June 2011). "Women paid more than men at Government equality body". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  6. ↑ Peev, Gerri (15 June 2011). "Equalities office where women earn 8% more than men". Daily Mail. London.

Coordinates: 51°29′53″N 0°08′33″W / 51.4981°N 0.1424°W / 51.4981; -0.1424

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