Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero,how many people have been appointed to civil service positions without open competition in his Department since 4 July 2024; what their (a) job titles and (b) salary bands are; and on what basis each was appointed

All recruitment into the Civil Service is governed by the CSC Recruitment Principles 2018.

The recruitment principles are for departments to implement and set out how recruitment needs to be conducted, along with the exceptions that departments can apply to these principles. In the latest year for which data is available (year ending March 2023) around 9,000 people were hired through the different Exception routes across the civil service.

Exceptions typically involve bringing in relevant skills into the department for a time limited period, and initiatives to increase the diversity of the department. These are long established routes to bring talent, potential and expertise into the department.

In total, 24 people have been appointed to civil service positions in DESNZ through Exception routes since 4 July 2024. We are unable to provide job titles and salary bands as this could lead to individuals being identified due to the numbers being sufficiently low when broken down into these categories.