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Written Question
Civil Servants: Political Impartiality
Friday 20th June 2025

Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department plans to make an assessment of how to improve civil service compliance with strict impartiality in (a) recruitment and (b) retention.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles explain the legal requirement that selection for appointment to the Civil Service must be on merit on the basis of fair and open competition. The Civil Service takes adherence to these principles very seriously. The Civil Service Commission publishes data regarding compliance and their most recent annual report for 2023/24 showed a 13% reduction in breaches compared to 2022/23.

For the centrally managed Senior Civil Service, departments are able to address flight risk with Pivotal Role Allowances (PRAs) for those delivering critical programmes and those responsible for implementing government priorities. All PRAs require the approval of the Cabinet Office and the Treasury and are assessed against strict eligibility criteria, including the business criticality of the role, the impact should the incumbent leave, the skills required and the level of flight risk. For grades below the SCS, departments have delegated authority to determine their own pay arrangements to reflect their recruitment and retention needs.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Political Impartiality
Friday 20th June 2025

Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of the issues which have led to the largest number of incidents of reported civil servants being found in breach of strict impartiality conduct.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The collection of any data with regard to breaches of the Civil Service Code would be a matter for individual departments.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Political Impartiality
Friday 20th June 2025

Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of incidents involving civil servants who were found to be in breach of strict impartiality.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

The collection of any data with regard to breaches of the Civil Service Code would be a matter for individual departments.


Written Question
Civil Servants: Political Impartiality
Friday 20th June 2025

Asked by: Suella Braverman (Conservative - Fareham and Waterlooville)

Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department plans to take to support (a) neutrality and (b) impartiality in the civil service.

Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)

Impartiality, and in particular political impartiality, is one of the values of the Civil Service Code. It is a contractual obligation for civil servants to abide by the Code. Impartiality means civil servants must serve the Government, whatever its political persuasion, to the best of their ability.