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Unpaid Work: Ethnic Groups

Asked by Mr Richard HoldenConservativeCabinet OfficeTabled Answered 14 January 2025UIN 22989

The question

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of (a) 6 January 2025 to Question 21057 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Unpaid Work and (b) 20 November 2024 to Question 14502 on Gender: Equality, whether guidance is provided to Government departments on the potential situations in which it would be permissible for access to internship schemes to be restricted to people from non-white backgrounds.

Answered by Georgia Gould

Individual departments are responsible for recruitment decisions and they are required to meet all obligations of relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. If a department wants to restrict an internship programme to a specific group or groups, it would be expected to ensure on a case by case basis that it complies with the relevant legislation. As a result, as was the case under the previous administration, no central guidance is provided on this matter.

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