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Written Question
Foreign Investment in UK: GREAT
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the level of UK investment generated by the GREAT campaign since its re-launch in 2021.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.


Written Question
Foreign Investment in UK: GREAT
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what his latest estimate is of the amount of investment that will be generated by the GREAT Study UK campaign.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.


Written Question
GREAT: Costs
Tuesday 19th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the cost to the public purse has been of the GREAT campaign since its re-launch in 2021.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Recruitment
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of civil service recruitment campaigns failed to fill the post advertised in each financial year from 2019/20.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

The Government Recruitment Service collaborates with departments, functions and professions to develop and deliver high quality, customer-focused recruitment that identifies and attracts the best people for roles whilst offering a wide range of services. It offers core low-cost solutions to meet routine recruitment needs and handles more complex or specialist campaigns by tailoring its approach to attract and recruit the highest quality candidates.

The following table presents civil service recruitment campaigns with successful and unsuccessful vacancy outcomes for campaigns managed by the Government Recruitment Service.

Year

Vacancy Outcome Successful

Vacancy Outcome Unsuccessful

Total number of vacancies

2020

10080

5146

15226

2021

15871

9511

25382

2022

16047

9851

25898

2023

13909

9576

23485

Total

55907

34084

89991

The Government Recruitment Service does not hold any data on why candidates are not successful. However, there could be a range of reasons for non-appointment. All candidates will have been sifted or interviewed out of the recruiting process.


Written Question
Government Communication Service: Civil Servants
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in ministerial departments worked in the Government Communication Service profession in each financial year from 2010/11.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information requested is not held centrally from 2010 to date.


Written Question
Electronic Government: Proof of Identity
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many government services have onboarded to One Login.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The GOV.UK One Login system is fully operational, providing a simple and secure way for people to access government services online. Users can create an account, login and prove (and then reuse) their identity - through either a web-based journey, smartphone app or in-person route - to access an initial set of 30 government services. This includes important services such as ‘Request a Disclosure and Barring Service Basic Check’, ‘Apply for an HM Armed Forces Veteran Card’ and ‘Sign Your Mortgage Deed’.

We are on track to onboard additional services - including in HMRC, DWP and DVLA - over the next year, bringing the total number to at least 145.


Written Question
Central Digital and Data Office: Staff
Thursday 14th March 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many full-time equivalent staff were employed in the Government Digital and Data profession on 11 March (a) 2022, (b) 2023 and (c) 2024.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Digital and Data profession issues a Workforce Planning data Commission twice a year in April and October. Below are the number of full-time Civil Servant professionals in filled positions for the years 2022 and 2023:

a) 2022, April commission: 16,662

b) 2023, April commission: 20,163

c) 2023, October commission: 21,366

The 2024 April commission is being issued this month (March 2024), workforce data is therefore not yet available. We are firmly on track to reach its target 6% of the overall civil service workforce by 2025.


Written Question
Cabinet Office: Recruitment
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much his Department spent on external recruitment consultants in each of the financial years (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22, and (c) 2022-23.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The information is not centrally held in the form requested. Government external expenditure will include Civil Service fast stream, public appointments, workforce planning, and on training and development.

Identifying spending specifically on using consultancies to recruit temporary or permanent staff could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.




Written Question
Prime Minister: Recruitment
Wednesday 28th February 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how much the Prime Minister's Office spent on external recruitment consultants in each of the financial years (a) 2020-21, (b) 2021-22, and (c) 2022-23.

Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 28th February 2024, Official Report, PQ 5332.


Written Question

Question Link

Thursday 22nd February 2024

Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether any non-executive directors employed in his Department are non-domiciled as of 19 February 2024.

Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office

Non executive board members are not employees of the Cabinet Office and act in an advisory capacity. Non-executive’s personal data, including those relating to personal taxation or status, are protected by the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Collection of personal data on non-dom status is not routinely collected and is generally not required for making public appointments. If any such data was held it could only be published if doing so was in compliance with data protection law.

Data relating to public appointments are covered by the Public Appointments Privacy Statement found here https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/privacy.