The UK Civil Service has at least 500 staff working on diversity, equality and inclusion policies across Government departments, according to figures obtained after a two year effort by Conservative MP Neil O Brien.
The data was first reported by the Telegraph, which says the total is likely an underestimate because some departments declined to disclose information.
Neil O’Brien, the Conservative MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston, pursued the numbers through freedom of information requests and parliamentary questions after what he described as repeated attempts by both officials and ministers to block publication.
According to the Telegraph, the Ministry of Defence employs 77 staff with job titles that feature the terms equality, diversity, inclusion, gender, LGBT or race, making it the largest single departmental employer of such roles outside the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office itself now hosts 180 staff in the Office for Equality and Opportunity, previously known as the Equality Hub. In late 2023 the same body acknowledged having only 28 staff with DEI related terms in their job titles.
Beyond the central Cabinet Office teams, around 330 DEI positions have been identified across Whitehall, bringing the confirmed total to 510.
O’Brien, a shadow minister focused on policy development, criticised what he called an unnecessary expansion of roles funded by taxpayers. He argued that the posts create ongoing administrative burdens through the policies they generate.
Assuming an average salary of fifty five thousand pounds, he estimated the annual pay bill for the 510 roles at more than twenty eight million pounds. “The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is about to massively increase tax yet again, claiming there is no alternative. But we can see that within ministers’ own departments the number of people doing woke diversity jobs is increasing,” he said. “These types of jobs cost taxpayers twice – one for their salaries and then a second bigger cost for all the work they then create for other people to comply with various left wing policies they generate.”
He added: “The fact that so many Labour ministers have tried to block the release of these figures at every turn shows that they know voters don’t support these waste of money non jobs. But rather than do what voters want and deliver value for money, Labour have prioritised funding woke ideology. When Rachel Reeves hikes our taxes it will be this kind of rubbish that hard working people will be paying extra for.”
O’Brien said some departments had refused to provide updated figures despite answering identical questions a year earlier. He noted that the Ministry of Justice and DEFRA both responded that the information was not held centrally. “When I discussed this with the Table Office they described the response as straining credibility,” he said.
The data reported by the Telegraph shows that within the Office for Equality and Opportunity, 63 staff work in central roles, 18 on LGBT policy, 19 on equality, 20 on social mobility, 23 on womens equality, 25 in the disability unit and 12 in the race equality unit.
Several departments have seen increases since last year. The Department for Transport rose from four to nine DEI staff, the Home Office from 29 to 34, HS2 Ltd from four to 10, the Department of Work and Pensions from 25 to 29, the Department for Education from one to two, the Department of Science Innovation and Technology from three to four and the Environment Agency from nine to 14.
This article is based on reporting by the Telegraph, with all direct quotations reproduced exactly as published. Read the full article here.
