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Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Staff
Thursday 18th March 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will place copies of the CMA’s internal reports (a) BAME Performance Ratings Review and (b) Equality Reporting Principles in the Library; and what assessment he has made of the reason for the Senior Civil Service performance management outcomes for BAME staff over the age of 55, and those under the age of 24 and female staff working for the Competition and Markets Authority in the 2019-20 performance year.

Answered by Paul Scully

The CMA follows the guidance set out by Civil Service HR for the performance management of Senior Civil Servants (SCS).

It comprises individual performance planning and assessment together with personal development. The performance of job holders is assessed by taking account of both ‘what’ they have achieved, and ‘how’ they have achieved it. In the 2019 – 2020 performance year, the CMA had no SCS BAME staff over the age of 55, or under the age of 24. The data relating to the distribution of ratings for male and female members of the SCS is summarised below.

Male

Female

CMA SCS profile

56.6%

43.4%

Performance management outcomes

Top

71.1%

28.9%

Achieved

50.7%

49.3%

Low

66.7%

33.3%

Not required (due to insufficient time in post)

20.0%

80.0%

The BAME Performance Ratings Review was produced to allow a deeper analysis of the reasons and/or factors which could influence the distribution of performance ratings amongst BAME non-SCS staff. This work supports the CMA’s commitment to fully embed a diverse and inclusive culture within the CMA as detailed within the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2020 – 2024, and reinforces the work of the Race Action Plan 2020 – 2021. The Equality Reporting Principles set out the principles used for reporting performance rating distribution and CMA Staff Recognition Scheme outcomes for the purposes of the 2020 – 2021 non-SCS pay negotiation process. The CMA does not publish these documents externally as they were produced for internal purposes.

It is recognised that there are differences in SCS performance management outcomes for men and women. As detailed within the 2019 – 2020 Gender Pay Gap Report the CMA has already made progress in reducing its gender pay gap through a range of initiatives, and this continues to be an area of focus for the CMA.


Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Pay
Monday 1st March 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of non-senior civil service BAME staff employed by the Competition and Markets Authority is eligible for a performance related pay bonus for the financial year 2019-20; and how that proportion directly compares to the proportion of non-BAME staff that are eligible for that bonus.

Answered by Paul Scully

The proportion of BAME and non-BAME staff that were eligible to receive a performance related pay bonus for performance in the 2019 - 2020 financial year is as follows.

It should be noted that staff in receipt of ‘Partially Exceeding’ and ‘Consistently Exceeding’ performance ratings were considered eligible to receive a performance related pay bonus.

Ethnicity

Eligible for Bonus

BAME

29.9%

Non-BAME

43.0%

Prefer not to say

12.5%

Not Reportable1

41.7%

1 Not Reportable refers to staff that have not disclosed information for a given diversity characteristic.


Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Senior Civil Servants
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many staff at the Competition and Markets Authority hold senior civil service roles at grade five or above, broken down by protected characteristics.

Answered by Paul Scully

The number of CMA staff that hold Senior Civil Servants positions (grade five or above) as at 19 February 2021 is as follows. This has been broken down by protected characteristic1:

Age

Count

Under 34

3

35 - 44

53

45 - 54

45

55+

12

Disability

Count

Disabled

3

Not Disabled

92

Prefer not to say

3

Not Reportable2

17

Ethnicity

Count

BAME

3

Non-BAME

96

Prefer not to say

3

Not Reportable2

15

Gender

Count

Female

52

Male

62

Marital Status

Count

Married / Civil Partnership

66

Other Marital Status

33

Not Reportable2

15

Religious Belief

Count

Declared Religion or Belief

39

No Religion or Belief

54

Prefer not to say

6

Not Reportable2

15

Sexual Orientation

Count

LGBTQ+

5

Straight / Heterosexual

93

Prefer not to say

6

Not Reportable2

10

It should be noted that CMA staff of all contract types have been included in the tables listed above. This includes permanent staff, fixed-term contracts and those on loan from other government departments.

1 The CMA does not currently report on gender reassignment or pregnancy and maternity protected characteristics, as defined under the Equality Act (2020), due to the small number of staff.

2 Not Reportable refers to staff that have not disclosed information for a given diversity characteristic.

3 For groups with less than 5 staff under a given protected characteristic, these groups have been combined with larger groups and / or recorded as ‘


Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Performance Related Pay
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what the average value of bonuses paid to non-senior civil service staff eligible for performance related pay at the Competition and Markets Authority has been in each financial year since 2015, broken down by protected characteristics.

Answered by Paul Scully

The average (mean) value of performance related bonuses to non-SCS staff by protected characteristic1 for the financial years 2015/16 to 2020/21 is as follows. It should be noted that payments made in a given financial year are attributable to performance in the previous financial year.

Age

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

16 - 24

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£0.00

£288.08

£874.41

25 - 34

£1,164.79

£1,630.00

£1,623.61

£2,102.95

£1,105.31

£1,845.48

35 - 44

£1,826.05

£2,098.81

£2,356.92

£2,978.63

£1,624.57

£2,250.99

45 - 54

£2,141.31

£2,421.07

£2,272.87

£3,027.90

£1,353.08

£1,876.27

55 - 64

£1,625.16

£2,195.39

£1,927.40

£2,682.08

£1,139.67

£1,687.26

65+

£1,696.25

£661.33

£2,385.00

£3,630.00

£867.47

£1,325.00

Disability

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

Disabled

£1,208.30

£1,654.22

£1,591.00

£2,675.00

£1,630.52

£2,316.86

Not Disabled

£1,785.01

£2,074.33

£2,107.57

£2,658.10

£1,278.88

£1,880.36

Not Reportable

£1,862.05

£2,021.93

£2,279.42

£2,844.06

£1,450.76

£2,164.22

Ethnicity

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

BAME

£1,217.54

£1,542.94

£1,638.15

£2,363.74

£1,180.51

£1,682.45

Non-BAME

£1,772.91

£2,061.00

£2,136.92

£2,776.90

£1,348.38

£1,979.60

Prefer not to say

£2,056.00

£2,620.25

£569.00

£4,000.00

£873.58

£737.60

Not Reportable

£2,351.43

£2,293.14

£2,543.70

£2,720.13

£1,604.28

£2,232.62

Gender

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

Female

£1,804.01

£1,999.96

£2,149.27

£2,469.59

£1,218.69

£1,910.79

Male

£1,728.75

£2,063.20

£2,070.52

£2,945.74

£1,451.38

£1,946.10

Marital Status

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

Married / Civil Partnership

£1,733.30

£2,060.78

£2,372.43

£2,984.02

£1,479.18

£2,033.39

Other Marital Status

£1,721.42

£1,942.37

£2,340.89

£2,515.19

£1,202.63

£1,862.71

Not Reportable

£1,969.78

£2,363.25

£1,885.74

£2,762.10

£1,664.53

£2,028.27

Religious Belief

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

Declared Religion or Belief

£1,417.42

£1,966.38

£2,019.61

£2,513.84

£1,263.08

£1,761.20

No Religion or Belief

£1,878.19

£2,015.48

£2,037.40

£2,829.85

£1,355.32

£2,039.18

Prefer not to say

£1,910.67

£2,364.00

£2,035.25

£2,775.00

£998.65

£1,922.22

Not Reportable

£2,245.56

£2,154.48

£2,483.85

£3,029.81

£1,626.40

£2,282.29

Sexual Orientation

2015/16

2016/17

2017/18

2018/19

2019/20

2020/21

LGBTQ+

£1,188.38

£2,496.40

£1,767.00

£2,743.11

£1,805.29

£2,030.67

Straight / Heterosexual

£1,710.97

£1,969.03

£2,078.45

£2,664.78

£1,269.27

£1,917.40

Prefer not to say

£1,899.22

£2,148.13

£2,018.00

£2,938.40

£1,155.14

£1,913.55

Not Reportable

£2,290.10

£2,380.00

£2,456.94

£2,943.36

£1,637.35

£2,000.67

Since the 2018/19 financial year, the CMA has calculated performance related bonuses as a flat rate payment which is tiered based on grade. Prior to the 2018/19 financial year, payments were made as a fixed percentage of a qualifying staff member’s base salary. In both approaches, it is noted that some groups of protected characteristics (e.g. younger staff between 25 - 34) received lower average performance related bonuses as they historically have primarily occupied more junior grades with lower base salaries.

1 The CMA does not currently report on gender reassignment or pregnancy and maternity protected characteristics, as defined under the Equality Act (2020), due to the small number of staff

2 Not Reportable refers to staff that have not disclosed information for a given diversity characteristic.


Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Performance Appraisal
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what proportion of non-senior civil service BAME staff employed by the Competition and Markets Authority have received a poor performance marking of partly achieved or needs to improve for the financial year 2019-20; and how that proportion directly compares to the proportion of non-BAME staff that have received that marking.

Answered by Paul Scully

The proportion of BAME and non-BAME staff in receipt of ‘Partially Achieving’ or ‘Needs to Improve’ ratings for the performance year 2019 – 2020 is as follows:

Ethnicity

Partially Achieving

Needs to Improve

BAME

12.3%

1.1%

Non-BAME

5.0%

0.2%

Prefer not to say

21.4%

0.0%

Not Reportable1

6.3%

2.1%


It should be noted that only a small number of ‘Partially Achieving’ (52) and ‘Needs to Improve’ (4) were issued across 736 overall ratings. In addition, the ‘Prefer not to say’ cohort for ethnicity is only comprised of 16 staff


1 Not Reportable refers to staff that have not disclosed information for a given diversity characteristic.


Written Question
Competition and Markets Authority: Pay
Wednesday 24th February 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many non-senior civil service staff at the Competition and Markets Authority will receive a performance related pay bonus for the financial year 2019-20, broken down by (a) ethnicity, (b) age, (c) gender, (d) part-time working and (e) other protected characteristics.

Answered by Paul Scully

The number of staff by protected characteristic1 and part-time working that will receive a performance related payment for performance in the 2019 - 2020 financial year is as follows:


(a) Ethnicity

Ethnicity

Count

BAME

56

Non-BAME

208

Prefer not to say

3

Not Reportable2

21


(b) Age

Age

Count

16 - 24

10

25 - 34

123

35 - 44

84

45 - 54

55

55+

15

(c) Gender

Gender

Count

Female

139

Male

148

(d) Part-time working

Working Pattern

Count

Full Time

255

Part Time

32

(e) Other protected characteristics

Disability

Count

Disabled

12

Not Disabled

243

Not Reportable2

32

Marital Status

Count

Married / Civil Partnership

98

Other Marital Status

173

Not Reportable2

16

Religious Belief

Count

Declared Religion or Belief

124

No Religion or Belief

121

Prefer not to say

16

Not Reportable2

26

Sexual Orientation

Count

LGBTQ+

22

Straight / Heterosexual

241

Prefer not to say

12

Not Reportable2

12

1 The CMA does not currently report on gender reassignment or pregnancy and maternity protected characteristics, as defined under the Equality Act (2020), due to the small number of staff.

2 Not Reportable refers to staff that have not disclosed information for a given diversity characteristic.

3 For groups with less than 5 staff under a given protected characteristic, these groups have been combined with larger groups and / or recorded as ‘


Written Question
Conditions of Employment
Friday 29th January 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, which (a) trade unions, (b) employers' organisations and (c) businesses his Department has consulted on the forthcoming consultation on employment rights.

Answered by Paul Scully

There is no Government plan to reduce workers’ rights.

In our manifesto the government promised to maintain existing levels of protections for workers provided by our laws and regulations as we left the EU. In any case, our high standards were never dependent on our membership of the EU. The UK has one of the best employment rights records in the world and it is well known that in many areas the UK goes further than the EU on worker protections.

We have also committed to enhancing workers’ rights now that we have left the EU. We have already set out plans to bring forward legislation which will make workplaces fairer, provide better support for working families and new protections for those in low-paid work.

Our manifesto contains commitments to create a new, single enforcement body for labour market abuses, to give greater protections for workers, as well as plans to encourage greater flexible working.


Written Question
Conditions of Employment
Friday 29th January 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, when the forthcoming consultation on employment rights will open.

Answered by Paul Scully

There is no Government plan to reduce workers’ rights.

In our manifesto the government promised to maintain existing levels of protections for workers provided by our laws and regulations as we left the EU. In any case, our high standards were never dependent on our membership of the EU. The UK has one of the best employment rights records in the world and it is well known that in many areas the UK goes further than the EU on worker protections.

We have also committed to enhancing workers’ rights now that we have left the EU. We have already set out plans to bring forward legislation which will make workplaces fairer, provide better support for working families and new protections for those in low-paid work.

Our manifesto contains commitments to create a new, single enforcement body for labour market abuses, to give greater protections for workers, as well as plans to encourage greater flexible working.


Written Question
Bereavement Leave
Friday 29th January 2021

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what plans he has to introduce rights to statutory bereavement leave for workers.

Answered by Paul Scully

We recognise that the death of a close family member, friend, or colleague can be deeply upsetting. The Government believes that individuals are best placed to understand their own specific needs and we encourage their employers to respond in an appropriate and sensitive way.

Recognising that the death of a child is particularly tragic, in April 2020 we introduced a new statutory entitlement to Parental Bereavement Leave and Pay for parents who lose a child under the age of 18. Although there is no statutory entitlement to bereavement leave for employees who lose a close relative who is not a child, all employees have a ‘day 1’ right to take unpaid time off work for an emergency involving a dependant.


Written Question
Carbon Emissions: Infrastructure
Tuesday 24th November 2020

Asked by: John McDonnell (Labour - Hayes and Harlington)

Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will create a net zero test for all infrastructure policy and spending decisions.

Answered by Nadhim Zahawi

The UK’s climate change framework enables the Government to determine how best to balance emissions reductions across the economy. Any net emissions increase or decrease from infrastructure projects is managed within the Government’s overall strategy for meeting carbon budgets and the 2050 net zero target.