Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many times his Department has (a) received a request for and (b) suggested the voluntary downgrading of an employee; when that request or suggestion took place and for what reason; for what reason voluntary downgrading was (i) applied and (ii) rejected; and whether his Department (A) applied and (B) declined pay protection in the three years prior to 3 July 2017.

The information requested could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Ministry of Justice’s employee information is maintained by a Shared Services function, however the Shared Services function does not maintain a detailed record of the reason/s for downgrading in their system, whether voluntary or business led. Shared Services would also not hold details for a rejected voluntary downgrade. Therefore, to locate and collate the information requested would require a manual check of all employee files across the Ministry of Justice and its Arm’s Length bodies, which would exceed the cost limit.