12 November 1999
Suma Chakrabarti, 40, head of the Performance and Innovation Unit, is on secondment from the Department for International Development. He won the Public Sector Diversity Award for his work at the PIU, which initiates its own policies and answers directly to the prime minister.
He said: 'I hope the award gives further impetus to the work to encourage more people from ethnic minority backgrounds to consider joining the civil service.'
The government is keen to encourage more ethnic minorities into the top ranks of the civil service, particularly following the publication of a critical report in July, which painted a bleak picture of inequality across Whitehall.
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