Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how many staff left his Department in each year since 2015.
Answered by Steve Baker
The table below summarises the published Civil Service Statistics which includes the number of civil servants who have left the Northern Ireland Office since 2015.
The Cabinet Office has recently launched the new Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, which demonstrates our commitment to developing and retaining the key skills the Civil Service needs, both now and in the future.
Total Annual Leavers at 31st March of: |
|
2015 | 0 |
2016 | 10 |
2017 | 0 |
2018 | 20 |
2019 | 20 |
2020 | 20 |
2021 | 10 |
2022 | 20 |
2023 | 10 |
Total: | 110 |
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much their Department spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-2023 financial year.
Answered by Steve Baker
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) spending in the Civil Service.
The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming at delivering a leaner, more efficient government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance.
The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Steve Baker
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) spending in the Civil Service.
The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming at delivering a leaner, more efficient government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance.
The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Steve Baker
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) spending in the Civil Service.
The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming at delivering a leaner, more efficient government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance.
The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much the Parades Commission for Northern Ireland spent on equality and diversity training in the 2022-23 financial year.
Answered by Steve Baker
On 2 October, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a value for money audit of all EDI (Equality, Diversity and Inclusion) spending in the Civil Service.
The audit will dovetail with the public sector productivity review, aiming at delivering a leaner, more efficient government. The audit forms part of our drive to improve productivity across the public sector by driving down waste and improving performance.
The findings and actions of the audit will be announced by the Chancellor in the Autumn.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what information their Department holds on the level of staff retention; and what steps they are taking to improve staff retention.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Northern Ireland Office currently does not compile staff retention statistics. The Single Operating Platform (SOP) is used to manage staff records which includes leaving dates and reason for leaving. These are reviewed to monitor reasons for leaving and identify any unexpected trends. Within the Northern Ireland Office, most turnover is expected and appropriate.
The Northern Ireland Office is committed to investing in staff retention by ensuring the 2023 pay award was implemented promptly. The Civil Service People Survey results from 2022 have been studied thoroughly and based on these results this Department has been focusing on Learning & Development, Wellbeing and Leadership.
Reward and Recognition is a standing agenda item for Senior Leaders and is regularly promoted to all staff.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what data their Department holds on the average response time to written parliamentary questions in the last six months; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions.
There are three types of Written Parliamentary Question. The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Parliamentary Work sets out the timelines departments should seek to meet.
This can be found here:
Departmental performance on Written Parliamentary Questions is published at the end of each session by the Procedure Committee and is therefore publicly available.
You can find details of the last session's PQ performance here:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmproced/385/report.html
This year's data will be published by the Procedure Committee when the session concludes.
The Northern Ireland Office make every effort to reply to Written Parliamentary Questions within original deadlines by ensuring strict internal deadlines are in place, regular guidance is issued to all staff and monthly corporate reporting.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps their Department is taking to improve response times to written parliamentary questions.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Written Parliamentary Questions.
There are three types of Written Parliamentary Question. The Cabinet Office’s Guide to Parliamentary Work sets out the timelines departments should seek to meet.
This can be found here:
Departmental performance on Written Parliamentary Questions is published at the end of each session by the Procedure Committee and is therefore publicly available.
You can find details of the last session's PQ performance here:
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5803/cmselect/cmproced/385/report.html
This year's data will be published by the Procedure Committee when the session concludes.
The Northern Ireland Office make every effort to reply to Written Parliamentary Questions within original deadlines by ensuring strict internal deadlines are in place, regular guidance is issued to all staff and monthly corporate reporting.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what has been the average time taken to respond to public inquiries by his Department in each of the last five years; and whether he plans to introduce measures to improve this.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Department does not hold any specific information on response times to public inquiries but in responding to all public inquiry responses my department endeavours to ensure that it meets all deadlines set and responds in a timely manner.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Northern Ireland Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what data their Department holds on the average response time to enquiries by Members; and what assessment they have made of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Steve Baker
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence, particularly from Parliamentarians. As per the Cabinet Office’s Guide to Handling Correspondence on gov.uk, departments and agencies should aim to respond to correspondence within a 20-working day target deadline.
With regards to timeliness of responses to enquiries received by members, the Cabinet Office published data on this for 2022 for all government departments on GOV.UK in March 2023, and will be publishing data for Q1 and Q2 2023 shortly. The 2022 data can be found here:
The Northern Ireland Office make every effort to reply to correspondence promptly and within the original deadline. However, if the matters raised in the correspondence require substantial investigation, it might not be possible to provide a substantive reply to a case within the departmental deadline.