Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many alleged breaches of the Special Advisors’ Code of Conduct by his Department's Special Advisers have been investigated by the Ministers responsible for their appointment in the last 12 months.
Answered by David Lidington
The department holds no central record of such allegations.
The conduct of all civil servants, including special advisers, is taken very seriously
Special advisers act in accordance with the Special Adviser Code of Conduct, which
includes clear guidance on appropriate conduct in public life.
The Code can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-
advisers-code-of-conduct
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many alleged breaches of the Special Advisers’ Code of Conduct by the Prime Minister's Special Advisers have been investigated in the last 12 months.
Answered by David Lidington
The department holds no central record of such allegations.
The conduct of all civil servants, including special advisers, is taken very seriously
Special advisers act in accordance with the Special Adviser Code of Conduct, which
includes clear guidance on appropriate conduct in public life.
The Code can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/special-
advisers-code-of-conduct
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many alleged breaches of the Civil Service Code by Special Advisers have been acted upon by his Department in the last 12 months; and if he will list those alleged breaches by Department.
Answered by David Lidington
Reflecting the nature of their role, Special Advisors conduct themselves in accordance with the Special Advisors’ Code of Conduct, rather than all the provisions of the Civil Service Code.
As outlined in the Special Advisors’ Code of Conduct, the responsibility for the management of conduct of Special Advisors rests with the Minister who made the appointment.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the reason is for the omission of the Childcare Implementation Taskforce from the list of Cabinet Committees and Implementation Taskforces published on gov.uk.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Childcare Implementation Taskforce focused on cross-government readiness for the rollout of a coherent and effective childcare offer to support parents to work. From 2017, we began rolling out 30 hours of free childcare to working families of 3 and 4 year olds; support with 20% of childcare costs (worth up to £2,000 per child per year) for children under 12 through Tax-Free Childcare; and up to 85% support with childcare costs in Universal Credit. The Government remains absolutely focused on ensuring that all eligible parents can access these services as efficiently as possible.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Childcare Implementation Taskforce has been disbanded.
Answered by Oliver Dowden - Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
The Childcare Implementation Taskforce focused on cross-government readiness for the rollout of a coherent and effective childcare offer to support parents to work. From 2017, we began rolling out 30 hours of free childcare to working families of 3 and 4 year olds; support with 20% of childcare costs (worth up to £2,000 per child per year) for children under 12 through Tax-Free Childcare; and up to 85% support with childcare costs in Universal Credit. The Government remains absolutely focused on ensuring that all eligible parents can access these services as efficiently as possible.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many Cabinet Office staff do not meet the eligibility criteria for the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
Information about the number of Cabinet Office staff that do not meet the eligibility criteria for the Civil Service Pension Scheme is not held centrally, and could only be provided at disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will publish the number of his Department's employees who have been employed other than in his Department's payroll in each year since 2010-11.
Answered by Caroline Nokes
The number of non-payroll employees (staff loaned or seconded in who remain on their parent organisation payroll) in my Department in each year since 2010-11 is shown in the table below:
2010/11 | 2011/12 | 2012/13 | 2013/14 | 2014/15 | 2015/16 | 2016/17 |
93 | 136 | 181 | 186 | 127 | 127 | 121 |
Audited information about the numbers of contractors working in the Department is published in the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts. These are available on the Cabinet Office website at https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-annual-reports-and-accounts
My Department seeks to make the best use of staff and resources to deliver the Government’s objectives in a way that represents value for money for the taxpayer. This includes interchange with other Government Departments and other sectors, and an appropriate mix of employment contract types that meet the needs of the business.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of people employed by the Civil Service by Department are non-UK EU nationals.
Answered by Ben Gummer
All Government Departments are bound by EU and UK requirements concerning right to work in the UK and, in addition, the Civil Service Nationality Rules.
The recruitment processes of Civil Service organisations are subject to audit by the Civil Service Commissioner.
Management of such information is delegated to departments.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Prime Minister's comments on equality in the Guardian newspaper on 26 October 2015, how many graduate employers the Government approached to ask them to pledge to anonymise job applications; how many such requests were (a) accepted and (b) rejected; and which graduate employers (i) accepted and (ii) rejected those offers.
Answered by Matt Hancock
The information requested is not collected or held centrally for this question as our approach is to role model best practice and encourage employers to adopt this practice.
A range of organisations from across the public and private sector, together responsible for employing 1.8 million people in the UK, have signed up to the pledge to operate recruitment on ‘name blind’ basis to address discrimination.
In October a number of organisations from across the public and private sector attended a roundtable at Downing Street to discuss this issue. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-time-to-end-discrimination-and-finish-the-fight-for-real-equality
The Civil Service has adopted this as their default position for all external recruitment, including for graduates.Other graduate recruiters who have committed to or are already delivering name-blind applications for all graduate and apprenticeship level roles include KPMG, HSBC, Deloitte, Virgin Money, BBC, NHS, learn-direct, teach first and local government.
We are continuing to encourage this practice across the public sector and beyond.
Asked by: Tulip Siddiq (Labour - Hampstead and Kilburn)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of ministerial letters have been signed on behalf of Ministers in their absence in the last 12 months.
Answered by Matt Hancock
This information is not held and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.
In line with the guidance on handling Ministerial correspondence, the Cabinet Office ensures that all correspondence, wherever possible, is personally hand-signed by the appropriate responsible Minister.
Guidance to Departments on handling correspondence is available on Gov.uk - https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/441892/Cabinet_Office_Guidance_on_correspondence.pdf