Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any employees of his Department have been blocked from promotion on account of being red-flagged as a result of making a complaint about (a) bullying or (b) discrimination.
Answered by Chris Philp - Shadow Home Secretary
The Cabinet Office does not red-flag employees who raise complaints about a) bullying or b) discrimination.
The Cabinet Office complies with the Civil Service Recruitment Principles with recruitment being merit based on the basis of fair and open competition. A copy of the Civil Service Recruitment Principles can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/recruitment/recruitment-principles/.
Complaints relating to bullying or discrimination are treated as confidential in accordance with departmental policies; as such, the hiring manager would not be aware of candidates raising complaints.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to tackle (a) bullying and (b) discrimination within his Department.
Answered by Edward Argar
The Cabinet Office does not tolerate bullying, harassment or discrimination in any form. There are robust policies and processes in place to create a safe working environment and the Department actively encourages staff to report any inappropriate behaviour including bullying, harassment and discrimination.
In October 2021, the Cabinet Office launched an independent Review into Respect & Inclusion to consider policies, practices and workplace culture in regard to fairness and inclusion in the Cabinet Office. The Department has accepted the independent report's recommendations and are implementing them in full, prioritising actions that will have the greatest immediate impact. This includes ensuring senior leaders are accountable for leadership of respect and inclusion issues.
Additionally, Cabinet Office have our Fair Treatment Confidants Network where staff are trained to support and signpost their colleagues if they have experienced, witnessed or been accused of bullying, harassment or discrimination.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants retired from central Government departments between 1 March 2020 and 1 March 2022; and of those how many had worked in the civil service for 20 consecutive years or more, broken down by Government department.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
National Statistics on the size, shape and structure of the Civil Service, including the number of civil servants leaving, by leaving cause, between 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, was published as part of the release of Civil Service Statistics 2021 and is available at the following link https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2021 at table 42.
The attached data table shows that 7,580 civil servants retired in the year ending 31 March 2021. Of these, 4,900 were recorded as having entered the Civil Service 20 years or more prior to their retirement with numbers broken down by main government department in the table attached separately.
Statistics on those who retired in 2021/22 are not yet available.
Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many official grievances have been lodged by Cabinet Office staff each year over the last ten years; and how many of those complaints were (a) entirely or (b) partially upheld.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Employment tribunal decisions are published on GOV.UK. To ascertain which protected characteristic an employment tribunal was related to would lead to disproportionate costs.
The number of official grievances lodged by Cabinet Office staff and how many of those complaints were entirely or partially upheld is not centrally held. The Cabinet Office is therefore not able to respond due to the disproportionate cost of gathering this data.