Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many apprentices the Department recruited in 2025, compared with (a) 2022, (b) 2023, and (c) 2024.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Year | Number of New Apprentices Recruited | Total Apprenticeship Starts (New Recruits and Internal Conversions) |
|---|---|---|
2022 | 36 | 95 |
2023 | 35 | 126 |
2024 | 42 | 101 |
2025 | 29 | 65 |
The Department had a greater number of apprenticeship starts overall during this period, as the total figures include existing members of staff converting to an apprenticeship in addition to the new recruits shown above. These total apprenticeship starts were primarily composed of existing staff upskilling rather than new external recruitment.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in their Department were found to have broken the Civil Service Code in (a) 2024 and (b) 2025.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office is committed to the highest standards of integrity. Allegations of breaches of the Civil Service Code are investigated thoroughly in line with our departmental disciplinary procedures.
The Department’s systems are not configured to aggregate this data in the specific format requested. Extracting this information would require an extensive manual auditing exercise of personnel records, which cannot be completed within the required timeframe.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil service employees were on performance management plans in 2023, 2024 and 2025.
Answered by Satvir Kaur - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Data on how many civil servants have a performance management plan in place is not captured centrally.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he plans to review his decision as outlined in his answer to me within UIN 110638.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
As outlined in the previous answer, there are no plans to abolish the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the number of arms-length bodies across Government departments has increased since July 2024.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Since July 2024, 10 Arms Length Bodies have been announced to deliver the manifesto the Government was elected on. In conjunction with this, the government is conducting a comprehensive review of the entire ALB landscape, as announced on 6 April 2025, this has already made progress with announcements of the closure of Building Digital UK and LocatED amongst others. This aims to streamline the state and increase ministerial accountability, a vital step toward creating a more productive and agile state.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the potential merits of abolishing the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are no plans to abolish the House of Lords Appointments Commission.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have salaries over (a) £150,000, (b) £200,000 and (c) £250,000.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Information on the number of civil servants by salary band is published annually as part of the Cabinet Office accredited official statistics publication, Civil Service Statistics. Information on the number of civil servants earning more than £150,000 and £200,000 as at 31 March 2025 can be found at Table 26 of the statistical tables published here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2025
Across the Civil Service, there are five earning over £250,000.
All outputs are rounded to the nearest five in accordance with the disclosure control protocols for these accredited official statistics.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential financial impact of applying the Government commercial function terms and conditions of employment to the wider civil service.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
No such assessment has been made. Decisions on terms and conditions of employment are made by the employing department, depending on their specific business requirements and nature of the role and as set out in the Civil Service Management Code.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Comprehensive Spending Review 2025, what estimate he has made of the number of new Quasi-Autonomous Non-Governmental Organisations which will be created.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
Proposals for new bodies are subject to the ongoing ALB review, announced by the Chancellor for the Duchy of Lancaster on 6 April, to ensure their existence can be strongly justified against key principles.
Asked by: Peter Bedford (Conservative - Mid Leicestershire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the transparency of the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Commissioner for Public Appointments is a statutory office holder and provides independent assurance that public appointments are made in accordance with the government’s Governance Code on Public Appointments. The Governance Code is built on the principles of ministerial responsibility, selflessness, integrity, merit, openness, diversity, assurance and fairness.
The Commissioner’s functions are set out in the Public Appointments Order in Council. Under the Order in Council, the Commissioner must publish an annual report on public appointments. All annual reports, as well as the outcome of complaints and investigations, are published on the Commissioner’s website.