WIREDGOV

Responding to the Cabinet Office's intention to commission research on what is stopping women reaching the highest levels of the Civil Service, Director of Communications at the Institute for Government, Nadine Smith, said:

“We are pleased that the Cabinet Office is looking seriously at the important question of why more women do not progress to the highest level of the Civil Service. At the Institute we have been highlighting this issue for months and despite Civil Service pledges to do better, still very few women make it to the top.

“At our women leaders events we have been hearing that barriers to success in Whitehall are complex and not well understood. Our events focus on positive examples of women leading. It is important the research commissioned by the Cabinet Office gets to the heart of the problem, because if women cannot reach the top of Whitehall it deprives government of the variety of skills and talents it needs to serve the public well."