Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government when the Hammersmith Bridge Task Force will next meet; and when the agenda for that meeting will be published.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The focus for the Government, London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, and TfL is delivering and monitoring the stabilisation works and developing a business case for the second stage of works. A further meeting of the Taskforce will be considered when members put forward substantive agenda items for discussion.
The Taskforce publishes a report of each meeting on the Government website.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask Her Majesty's Government what ministerial directions they have given to the British Business Bank; and what were the contents of those directions.
Answered by Lord Callanan - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
A Ministerial Direction is a formal instruction by a Minister to the Chief Accounting Office of their department to proceed with a spending proposal. These are available on the GOV.UK website.
In the case of the British Business Bank plc, a Written Direction is a formal instruction issued by or on behalf of the British Business Bank’s Shareholder, the Secretary of State for BEIS, to proceed with a requested course of action after the Board has raised its concerns through a Reservation Notice. With respect to the Government’s Covid-19 Loan Schemes, all these notices are publicly available to view on the Bank’s website and GOV.UK.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are in the Office of the Leader of the House of Commons at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Lord True - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
The Office of the Leader of the House of Commons is an integral part of the Cabinet Office.
I refer the noble Lady to the answer given to PQs HL8861 and HL8862 as below -
Cross civil service information can be found at the Diversity and Inclusion dashboard at: https://public.tableau.com/profile/cabinet.office.diversity.and.inclusion#!/vizhome/CivilServiceDiversityandInclusiondashboard/Introduction?publish=yes
As the dashboard’s data tables show 7% of Cabinet Office Senior Civil Servants declared that they were from an ethinic minority.
18% of Cabinet Office overall civil servants declare that they are from an ethnic minority. Details of individual grades will not be disclosed to avoid identifying individuals.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are at the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
SCS1 | 7 |
SCS2 | Less than Five |
SCS3 | Less than Five |
SCS4 | Less than Five |
As of September 2020, the department’s declaration rate for ethnicity is 77.2%, meaning that the figures in the table above are based on the percentage that was declared and not the department’s true population.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are at the Northern Ireland Office at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Northern Ireland Office is a small department with less than 200 staff. As there are fewer than five BAME SCS members in the total cohort of 16 SCS grades in the department, figures cannot be provided in order to protect the privacy and identity of individuals concerned.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to their announcement on 7 October that they intend to legislate to change the language and presentation of information in debt letters, what changes they plan to make to letters and notices from HMRC to taxpayers deemed to be in default on tax payments.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
The changes referred to in the legislation apply to lenders in the credit industry, rather than Government departments. HMRC’s letters are always being reviewed and improved to follow best practice in debt collection. At the start of the pandemic, HMRC reviewed and amended the majority of their debt collection letters so they were tailored to taxpayers’ changing circumstances and to promote the support available to them.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Transport:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are at the Department for Transport at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Department for Transport and its Executive Agencies employ the following numbers of BAME Civil Servants at the grades listed:
SCS1: 6
SCS2: 2
SCS3: 0
SCS4: 0
These figures only include individuals who have self-identified as being of a BAME background; there are other individuals who have either not made a declaration or have indicated that they prefer not to disclose this information.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Lord Greenhalgh
The Department collects this information from employees who declare their ethnicity on a voluntary basis. Due to the number of SCS declaring and the data protection risk this creates, we are unable to breakdown this information by SCS grade from 1 to 4, as requested.
Published Annual Civil Service statistics include BAME representation by Department and can be found (attached) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2020
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Lord Gardiner of Kimble
I refer to the published diversity and inclusion data for the Civil Service: www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-inclusion-dashboard/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-dashboard.
The Civil Service is committed to diversity and inclusion and to reflecting the country that we serve, and is taking targeted action to tackle underrepresentation, especially in the Senior Civil Service (SCS). Our workforce data shows that the Civil Service as a whole is broadly representative of the UK’s working population, but there is more to be done to ensure that this diversity is reflected at all levels across departments and professions. Our diversity and inclusion dashboard provides details of the percentage of SCS from an ethnic minority background, but this data does not differentiate the SCS grades (SCS1,2,3,4). Defra is unable to provide the breakdown by SCS grades due to the risk of identifying individuals.
Asked by: Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask Her Majesty's Government how many BAME civil servants there are at the Ministry of Justice at (1) SCS1, (2) SCS2, (3) SCS3, and (4) SCS4, grade.
Answered by Baroness Scott of Bybrook - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities)
At the end of June 2020, 17 SCS PB1 employees in the Ministry of Justice and its executive agencies had declared their ethnicity as BAME. The number of declared BAME employees in the other SCS grades is too small to disclose in accordance with the Data Protection Act.
The Ministry of Justice is taking action to increase the diversity of staff recruited to the Senior Civil Service. This has included a comprehensive review of SCS recruitment, looking at every aspect of the delivery model to encourage interest and ensure fairness, consistency and transparency for prospective candidates. This covers, but is not limited to: team resource and systems; inclusive recruitment guidance; marketing and attraction; job analysis; diversity data reporting; the assessment process; and panel composition and training.
Civil Service wide diversity data is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-diversity-inclusion-dashboard/civil-service-diversity-and-inclusion-dashboard.