Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to her Department's contract with the Institute for Employment Studies of 24 January 2024, tender reference 398710/1312346, if she will publish the specification of services set out in Schedule 20 of that contract.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department will publish the specification set out in Schedule 20. The specification was not included in the version that was initially published, but will be added in advance of the 30 day publication deadline, following government guidance on publishing contracts.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many purchases with a value of less than £500 were made against her Department’s budget using a Government procurement card (a) in calendar year 2022 and (b) from 1 January to 30 September 2023; and what was the total cost of those purchases.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the government’s prompt payment initiative for small and medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.
Procurement cards are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues. Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls.
Procurement cards are held by departmental officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.
The table below lists the number of purchases and the total cost of purchases for the calendar year 2022 and from 1 January to 30 September 2023:
| DfE | ESFA | LocatED | STA | TRA | Oak | Total |
01/01/2022-31/12/2022 |
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Value of purchases below £500.00 | £178,381.16 | £52,689.25 | £12,287.14 | £2,053.74 | £3,931.10 | £32,816.45 | £282,158.84 |
Number of purchases below £500.00 | 1494 | 303 | 156 | 11 | 17 | 237 | 2218 |
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01/01/2023-30/09/2023 |
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Value of purchases below £500.00 | 137,843.73 | £11,994.14 | £12,404.57 | £832.47 | £754.50 | £126,840.64 | £290,670.05 |
Number of purchases below £500.00 | 1200 | 107 | 117 | 5 | 6 | 946 | 2381 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many government procurement cards were held by people to make purchases against her Department’s budget as of (a) 31 December 2022, (b) 31 March 2023 and (c) 31 December 2023.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
Procurement cards assist with the reduction in procurement bureaucracy, boost efficiency, support the government’s prompt payment initiative for small and medium businesses, and help maintain cash flow to suppliers.
Procurement cards are used as defined by the departmental procurement acquisition model, agreed by procurement and finance colleagues. Controls are in place that limit purchase types and values in line with individual departmental controls. Procurement cards are held by departmental officials, not Ministers or Special Advisers.
In the interest of providing the most comprehensive response to your question, the department also administers embedded cards for four national contracts on behalf of DfE, ESFA, STA and TRA.
The table below highlights the named cardholders for the department:
Department for Education, Executive Agencies & Arms Length Bodies | 31 December 2022 | 31 March 2023 | 21 December 2023 |
Department for Education (DfE) | 58 | 66 | 84 |
Education & Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) | 11 | 11 | 7 |
Standards & Testing Agency (STA) | 2 | 2 | 2 |
Teaching Regulation Agency (TRA) | 1 | 2 | 1 |
LocatED | 3 | 3 | 3 |
Oak National Academy | 2 | 4 | 4 |
Total | 77 | 88 | 101 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The data on the number of permanent staff employed by the Department, excluding agencies, in March 2016 is available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable/march2016/psereferencetablesmarch2016.xls. The data for March 2020 is available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable/march2020/datasets.xlsx. Data for 2011 includes agencies due to reporting arrangements in 2011. This is available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20150905000144mp_/http:/www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/q1-2011/stb-q1-2011.pdf.
The Department’s resources are routinely reviewed to ensure the Department has the capabilities and capacity required to respond to changing priorities and deliver efficiently and effectively.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 6 December 2022 to Question 97588 on Department for Education: Incentives, what the total value was of non-cash vouchers awarded to staff working for her core Department as performance-related bonuses in 2022-23.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Attracting, retaining and motivating highly skilled individuals is essential for the Civil Service to deliver for the British people and that is why pay must be fair and competitive as well as affordable to the taxpayer, with performance-related awards and vouchers being a key part of this.
Performance related awards, paid out as non-cash vouchers, are standard practice across Government. The Department uses instant reward vouchers to reward individuals who have a positive impact on the delivery of the Department’s business, with awards usually ranging between £25 and £100.
The total value of non-cash vouchers provided to employees working for the Department in 2022/23 was £445,000 (rounded to the nearest £1,000).
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her predecessors (a) received requests from and (b) made representations to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to discuss the (i) presence and (ii) potential cost implications of Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) within state-funded education facilities between 13 February 2020 and 5 July 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
It is the responsibility of those who run schools - academy trusts, Local Authorities and voluntary-aided school bodies - to manage the safety and maintenance of their schools and to alert the Department if there is a serious concern with a building. It has always been the case that where the Department is made aware of a building that may pose an immediate risk, immediate action is taken.
Ministers and officials have regular discussions with colleagues from His Majesty’s Treasury on a range of issues.
The 2021 Spending Review announced a budget of £19 billion of capital funding to support the education sector between 2022/23 and 2024/25. In addition to the Department’s targeted work on RAAC, we have continued to invest in improving the condition of schools and colleges, with over £15 billion allocated since 2015, including £1.8 billion committed for 2023/24, informed by consistent data on the condition of the estate. On top of this, the Department will transform 500 schools through the school rebuilding programme, prioritising buildings in the poorest condition and those with evidence of potential safety issues. In addition, £2.8 billion of capital investment has been allocated to further education colleges in England to transform and improve the condition of the post-16 estate, provide new places in post-16 education, and provide specialist equipment and facilities for T Levels.
The Department will spend whatever it takes to keep children safe. This includes paying for the emergency mitigation work needed to make buildings safe, including alternative classroom space where necessary, and supporting schools with remedial works which is our immediate focus. The Department is rightly focused on supporting schools and colleges. Where schools need additional help with revenue costs like transport to other locations, we are actively engaging with every school affected to put appropriate support in place. The Department will then also fund longer term refurbishment projects, or rebuilding projects where these are needed, to rectify the RAAC issue in the long term.
The Department will always put the safety and wellbeing of children and staff in schools and colleges at the heart of its policy decisions. The Government has taken more proactive action to identify and mitigate RAAC in education settings than the devolved administrations in the UK, or indeed, governments overseas.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many ministerial red boxes belonging to her Department have (a) been reported missing or lost or (b) had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There is no record of any ministerial red boxes from the Department having been either reported missing or lost, or having had their security features removed in order that they can be purchased for personal use by former Ministers from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.
The Department keeps a record of all its current ministerial red boxes, and they are all accounted for within the Department and are owned wholly by the Department. All Departmental property is recorded and registered in the appropriate manner and accounted for by the relevant accounting officer.
It is a long standing convention under successive administrations that Ministers may pay to retain red boxes as a memento of their time in their role, as long as the security features are removed, but the Department has no record of this happening from 1 May 2018 to 30 April 2023.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 21 April 2023 to Question 177720 on Department for Education: Staff, how many survey respondents from her Department (a) neither agreed nor disagreed with the five statements or (b) offered no response.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The table below shows the Leesman score achieved by Department staff who took part in the survey in September 2022.
Question | Agree | Neutral | Disagree | Total |
It enables me to work productively | 126 | 36 | 116 | 278 |
It supports me sharing ideas/knowledge amongst colleagues | 116 | 62 | 99 | 277 |
It creates an enjoyable environment to work in | 112 | 56 | 106 | 274 |
It contributes to a sense of community at work | 116 | 43 | 117 | 276 |
It's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to | 76 | 116 | 80 | 272 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 28 March 2023 to Question 166164 on Government Departments: Staff, how many and what proportion of respondents to the most recent Leesman office survey undertaken by her Department (a) agreed and (b) disagreed with the statements about their main workplace that (i) it enables me to work productively, (ii) it supports me sharing ideas and knowledge amongst colleagues, (iii) it creates an enjoyable environment to work in, (iv) it contributes to a sense of community at work, and (v) it's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Government Property Agency (GPA) is committed to delivering great places to work. To support this, it is important that civil servants are able to provide feedback about their workplaces. GPA has engaged Leesman, a world leader in measuring workplace experience, using their independent, objective and transparent office surveys that enables global benchmarking.
The table below shows the Leesman score achieved by Department for Education staff who took part in the survey in September 2022.
This data was taken specifically from staff based in the London Sanctuary Buildings office and respondents represent a small percentage of the Department’s workforce.
Department for Education (September 2022) | Agree | Disagree |
It enables me to work productively | 126 | 116 |
It supports me sharing ideas/knowledge amongst colleagues | 116 | 99 |
It creates an enjoyable environment to work in | 112 | 106 |
It's a place I'm proud to bring visitors to | 76 | 80 |
It contributes to a sense of community at work | 116 | 117 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) iPhone 12, (b) iPhone 13 and (c) iPhone 14 devices were purchased for use by staff in her core Department in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has not purchased any iPhone 12, 13, or 14 devices for use by Department staff in the period 2020 to 2022.