Ministerial role

Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)

Organisations: Department for Education, Office for Equality and Opportunity, Race Equality Unit, and Women and Equalities Unit
Current role holder: The Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern

Responsibilities

The minister’s responsibilities include:

  • lead policy responsibility for gender equality and women’s rights
  • sponsorship of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and Social Mobility Commission (SMC)
  • UK equality framework (including the Equality Act)
  • equality data and analysis

The minister also has lead responsibility in the House of Lords on the following policy areas:

  • socio-economic opportunity
  • race and ethnicity policy
  • Employment Rights Bill (Department for Business and Trade lead)

Current role holder

The Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern

The Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern was appointed Minister of State (Minister for Skills) in the Department for Education on 6 July 2024.

Since 4 March 2025 Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern serves as a Minister for Women and Equalities.

She previously served as a Government spokesperson for Equalities between 8 October 2024 and 4 March 2025.

More about this person

Previous holders of this role

  1. The Rt Hon Anneliese Dodds MP

    2024 to 2025