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Department for Transport: Equality

Asked by Richard FullerConservativeDepartment for TransportTabled Answered 21 July 2026UIN 18549

The question

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many FTE equivalent staff in (a) their Department and (b) each Arm's Length Body it sponsors are dedicated to fulfilment of the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED); what the (i) annual employment and (ii) total annual cost incurred is as a result of PSED and compliance with PSED for each of those bodies; what the outputs are from the work of PSED teams and personnel dedicated to PSED; and if they will publish an assessment of their Department's compliance with PSED.

Answered by Simon Lightwood

Compliance with the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) is embedded into departmental policy-making and decision-making processes and is the responsibility of all those developing and taking decisions. DfT and its Arm’s Length Bodies do not have staff who work solely on PSED, although there is a small central team within the Department for Transport that supports equality policy and compliance alongside a portfolio of other work.

Given that responsibility for the duty sits across the department, the outputs vary between teams. It is not possible to identify a discrete FTE figure or calculate the overall cost of PSED compliance. The department does not publish an overall assessment of our PSED compliance.

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