Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants in his Department are part of the Government Commercial Function; and how many of those civil servants have been seconded (a) outside of government and (b) in from outside of the government in each year since 2012.

The Government Commercial Function is staffed by employees working across many Civil
Service Departments. Within the Cabinet Office as at 30 th September 2017, there are 27.5
FTE in the Government Commercial Function who set the vision and direction of the
Government Commercial Function and support the running of the Government
Commercial Organisation.

The Government Commercial Organisation (GCO), founded in 2016, is the Central
employer of senior Commercial staff across the Civil Service. As at 30 th September 2017 it
employs 220 people as part of the Cabinet Office. Members of the GCO all sit within
government departments, working on commercial contracts within those departments. Two
members of the GCO are out on secondment, to MHRA and NEST. No members of the
GCO have been seconded in to the Civil Service.