Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how long a civil service vacancy must be advertised for to qualify as open and fair competition.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
There is no prescribed duration for the advertising of publicly advertised vacancies for them to be considered compliant with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests is able to initiate an investigation into the conduct of a Minister without the consent of the Prime Minister.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This Government is committed to ensuring that the Independent Adviser on Ministers’ Interests has the powers to start investigations into misconduct and that he or she will have access to the evidence needed. Further detail will be set out in due course.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 August 2024 to Question HL548 on Government Departments: Remote Working, whether his Department holds comparative headquarters occupancy data for (a) June and (b) July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The publication of this data was suspended in line with pre-election guidance for the duration of the Pre-Election Period. We will provide an update on future publication plans in due course.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much was spent on civil service diversity networks in the most recent year for which figures are available.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
As part of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Review commissioned in 2023 by the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Cabinet Office collected information on spend on EDI staff networks. We are currently considering this information.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 31 July 2024 to Question 1222 on JK Rowling, whether 10 Downing Street plans to take steps to arrange a meeting.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
I have nothing further to add to the answer given to the Rt Hon Member on 31 July 2024.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what guidance the civil service issues on employing (a) staff without posts, (b) people action teams, (c) priority movers lists, (d) redeployment registers and (e) talent pools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Departments are responsible for setting their redundancy procedures in line with the Cabinet Office issued 2016 Civil Service Redundancy Protocol. This document is publicly available guidance, published on gov.uk. The Civil Service does not formally use the terms, ‘redeployment registers’, ‘people action teams’, or ‘priority movers lists’, but the Redundancy Protocol does set out the expectations placed on departments when it comes to managing their employees who are without posts due to restructuring or job reduction plans.
There is no central policy relating to 'Talent pools' in the Civil Service. Departmental approaches to managing talent vary and are not governed by any central guidance or policy.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the status of the Civil Service Muslim Network is; and whether network time is allocated to that diversity network as of 10 September 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Civil Service Muslim Network voluntarily suspended their activity earlier this year, but has now resumed activity, with senior sponsors appointed to ensure all network activity is in line with relevant guidance.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Staff Network time allocation is agreed between networks and departments as the employer. The majority of staff time spent on diversity staff networks is voluntary and unpaid.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the answer of 30 July 2024 to House of Lords Question HL517 on Civil Service: Expenditure, if he will make it his policy to ensure that Civil Service staff should not spend time on diversity network activities during core working hours.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The management of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion networks is delegated to departments and any network time allocation is agreed between the network and the department as the employer. The majority of Civil Service staff time spent on diversity staff networks is voluntary.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 2 August 2024, to Question 905, on Civil Servants: Workplace Pensions, what recent estimate he has made of the percentage employer contribution to the Alpha pension scheme by pay band; and what the estimated yearly monetary cost to the public purse of such employer contributions is.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
This information is publicly available in the “Central Government Supply Estimates 2024-25” documents and the Civil Service Pension Scheme Valuation Results” document.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether minutes from mission delivery boards will be made publicly available.
Answered by Ellie Reeves - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees - including mission boards - is not normally shared publicly.