Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities)
Responsibilities
The Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) is responsible for:
- advancing the government’s wider priorities for LGBT equality, including:
- improving LGBT safety
- supporting LGBT people fleeing persecution
- tackling LGBT homelessness
- preparing and progressing the Conversion Practices Bill through pre-legislative scrutiny and then through Parliament
- progressing regulations to enable opposite-sex couples to convert their marriage to a civil partnership
- sponsorship of the Social Mobility Commission, supporting work on geographic and socio-economic disparities
- overview of the overarching equalities legislative framework, including the Equality Act
Current role holder
The Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP
The Rt Hon Stuart Andrew MP was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) for the Equality Hub on 27 October 2022.
He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport between 20 September 2022 and 27 October 2022, and Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice between 8 July 2022 and 7 September 2022.
He was Minister of State (Minister for Housing) in the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities from 8 February 2022 to 6 July 2022.
He was Treasurer of HM Household (Deputy Chief Whip) from 13 February 2020 to 8 February 2022.
He was Vice Chamberlain of HM Household (Government Whip) from 28 July 2019 to 13 February 2020. He was Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Minister for Defence Procurement at the Ministry of Defence from July 2018 to July 2019.
He was an Assistant Government Whip from 15 June 2017 to 19 July 2018 and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Wales Office from 9 January 2018 to 19 July 2018.
Political career
Stuart became MP for Pudsey, Horsforth and Aireborough in 2010. In 2012, he was made Parliamentary Private Secretary to Francis Maude MP.
In the 2015 general election, Stuart was re-elected and took on the role of Parliamentary Private Secretary to Patrick McLoughlin MP.