Civil service leadership 'has reverted to being 85% male and 100% white'

The leadership of the civil service is now overwhelmingly male, reversing decades of progress towards equality, according to new research.

A study by Labour found that more than four out of five senior leaders in the civil service are male, having been 50/50 in the early days of the coalition government.

Just three of the top departmental bosses are women, and none are from ethnic minorities, while the Civil Service Board, responsible for a diversity strategy, is made up mainly of men, said Labour.

Shadow Civil Service Minister Louise Haigh said: "David Cameron claimed the Tories were the party of equality but in just five years he has reversed decades of progress at the top of the civil service.

"Time and again the Prime Minister has appointed men in place of women to the top civil service roles, and the top civil service body is now 85% male and 100% white. Apparently Cameron not only thinks that 'the man in Whitehall really does know best' but he's putting the white into Whitehall as well."

"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."