Institutional, policy and economic frameworks – Government action

UK Government actions

• In its March 2021 budget, the UK Government announced measures to address regional inequalities, including the Levelling Up Fund, which will focus on capital investment in local infrastructure ‘that has a visible impact on people and their communities’. In May 2021, the UK Government announced the appointment of a Levelling Up Adviser and plans to publish a Levelling Up White Paper later in 2021.
• In March 2021, the UK Government also launched its prospectus for the UK Community Renewal Fund, designed to bridge the gap between the end of EU structural funding and its replacement, the UK Shared Prosperity Fund.
• In August 2020, the UK Government opened a targeted consultation on strengthening independent scrutiny bodies through legislation, to improve accountability in the criminal justice system.
• In July 2020, the UK Government established a new Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) to review inequality in the UK and make recommendations for further action across UK Government, public bodies and the private sector. CRED published its report in March 2021.
• In May 2020, the UK Government published an update on implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.
• In April 2020, the UK Government announced that it would develop a national strategy for disabled people, with a number of cross-government objectives to strengthen policy and the participation of disabled people in policy development
• In 2019, the UK Government announced that it would deliver a strategy to tackle entrenched inequalities faced by Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.
• In 2019, the UK Government published its gender equality roadmap alongside a framework for measuring progress.
• In 2018, the UK Government established an ‘equality hub’. This involved moving the Government Equalities Office permanently into the Cabinet Office, alongside the Race Disparity Unit, and strengthening links with the Disability Unit. In 2020, it announced the Social Mobility Commission would also be located in the equality hub.
• In 2018, the UK Government announced its LGBT Action Plan, setting out its policy commitments to advance lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality.
• In 2017, the UK Government set up a UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Action Group, which is a standing group co-chaired by the Department for Education and the Children’s Rights Alliance for England, to take forward UN recommendations on children’s rights.