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Written Question
Charity Commission and Gambling Commission: Staff
Tuesday 25th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people have been employed by the (a) Charity Commission and (b) Gambling Commission in each year since 2005.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Information regarding employment levels at the Charity Commission and Gambling Commission is included in each public body’s annual report and accounts. These are published annually on GOV.UK.

The average number of employees in each year since 2005 is detailed in the following table:

Financial Year

Charity Commission Full-Time Equivalent

Gambling Commission Full-Time Equivalent

2024-2025

440

416

2023-2024

471

373

2022-2023

471

336

2021-2022

464

310

2020-2021

418

335

2019-2020

373

340

2018-2019

332

342

2017-2018

301

322

2016-2017

312

307

2015-2016

310

290

2014-2015

319

268

2013-2014

310

224

2012-2013

320

211

2011-2012

375

211

2010-2011

442

220

2009-2010

483

230

2008-2009

488

238

2007-2008

493

222

2006-2007

514

175

2005-2006

540

102


Written Question
Charity Commission and Gambling Commission: Finance
Wednesday 19th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the annual budget was for the (a) Charity Commission and (b) Gambling Commission in each year since 2005.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Information on the Charity Commission and Gambling Commission’s annual net expenditure is included in each public body’s annual report and accounts. These are published annually on GOV.UK.

As a non-governmental department, the Charity Commission receives its funding directly from the Treasury. The Gambling Commission is primarily funded by licence fees paid by gambling operators - fee levels are set by DCMS and approved by Parliament.

The total annual net expenditure for each public body since 2005 is detailed in the following table:

Financial Year

Charity Commission Net Expenditure (£m)

Gambling Commission Net Expenditure (£m)

2024-2025

32.0

31.9

2023-2024

32.2

13.9

2022-2023

32.1

14.5

2021-2022

28.8

25.0

2020-2021

28.0

19.3

2019-2020

27.0

37.5

2018-2019

25.7

27.6

2017-2018

22.6

23.2

2016-2017

24.9

20.9

2015-2016

23.7

19.6

2014-2015

20.9

18.3

2013-2014

22.8

15.9

2012-2013

25.7

13.8

2011-2012

26.9

13.3

2010-2011

28.8

13.4

2009-2010

31.4

13.9

2008-2009

31.7

15.3

2007-2008

32.6

16.7

2006-2007

30.7

14.4

2005-2006

31.3

10.2


Written Question
Arts Council England and UK Sport: Finance
Tuesday 18th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what the annual budget was for (a) Arts Council England and (b) UK Sport in each year since 2005.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Annual reports, which include annual budget and number of people employed at both UK Sport and Arts Council England since 2005, have been laid in this House and have been published on the UK Sport and Arts Council England website.


Written Question
Arts Council England and UK Sport: Staff
Tuesday 18th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many people have been employed by (a) Arts Council England and (b) UK Sport in each year since 2005.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Annual reports, which include annual budget and number of people employed at both UK Sport and Arts Council England since 2005, have been laid in this House and have been published on the UK Sport and Arts Council England website.


Written Question
Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Thursday 13th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In the past 5 years 7 employment tribunals have been lodged against our department. 5 of these claims were under the Equality Act.

We cannot provide the number of claims broken down by year or those that were related to unfair dismissal or claims under the Equality Act 2010. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.


Written Question
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Performance Appraisal
Thursday 13th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

All DCMS staff are subject to regular performance reviews. Under performance management procedures, reviews should take place monthly, quarterly and at the end of each financial year. We hold data for managing poor performance cases these are provided below for the last 5 years:

Year

No. of cases

FTE at April

% of total FTE

2020/2021

0

1769.8

-

2021/2022

14

1978.8

0.7%

2022/2023

24

1668.8

1.3%

2023/2024

13

943.1

1.3%

2024/2025

10

1024.6

0.9%

Of the 61 performance management cases, 11 employees were either dismissed or resigned. We cannot provide the number of performance cases that resulted in either resignation or dismissal for each of the past five years because doing so would breach the Data Protection Act. This is due to the risk of identifying individual cases in years where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.

DCMS does not hold performance data in regards to its arms-length bodies and agencies.


Written Question
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Conditions of Employment
Thursday 13th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in her Department (a) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

In the last five years 43 members of staff were subject to management procedures during their probationary period. Of these cases 13 employees did not retain their employment and 6 employees were subject to an extension of their probationary period.

We cannot provide the number of staff who did not retain their employment or had their probationary period extended. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.


Written Question
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Disability
Tuesday 11th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

DCMS asks all employees to declare whether they have a disability, but does not differentiate between mental health and physical disabilities.

Information on the number of people declaring a disability by each government department is published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication. Latest published data are as at 31 March 2025 and can be found at Table 29 of the statistical tables at the following web address:

https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2025

Information for 31 March 2026 is due for publication in July 2026.


Written Question
Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Termination of Employment
Tuesday 11th November 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)

Information on the number of civil servants leaving each government department and organisation by responsibility level for the years 2021 to 2025 is published annually through the ‘Civil Service data browser’ as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication.

Information can be accessed through the Civil Service data browser for 2021 through 2025 at the following web address: https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/.


Written Question
Arts Council England and National Lottery Community Fund: Equality
Monday 28th April 2025

Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to the Answers of 1 March 2024 to Questions 15743 and 15744, how many staff in (a) her Department, (b) Arts Council England and (c) the National Lottery Community Fund have job titles which include the words (i) equality, (ii) diversity, (iii) inclusion, (iv) gender, (v) LGBT and (vi) race.

Answered by Chris Bryant - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)

The requested figures are

DCMS

2

Arts Council England

11

National Lottery Community Fund

4