Speaking this week at a discussion on civil service reform hosted by the Institute for Government, Trickett said diversity at senior levels matters not only because government should have the most talented people regardless of their background, but also because “an unrepresentative corps can only widen the gap between the governing class and the governed”.
He said that of the 159 top civil servants, “only 5 went to a state comprehensive school,” and noted that just 1.1 per cent of Fast Stream applicants from manual backgrounds won a place.