Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil servants, other than special advisers, his Department has appointed without open competition since 4 July 2024; what their (a) job titles and (b) salary bands are; and on what basis each was appointed.

Since 4 July 2024, there have been 30 civil servants in the Ministry of Defence who have been appointed on exemption. I am withholding the information about job titles and salary bands as it contains personal data which cannot be released as individuals could potentially be identified.

I can confirm that of the 30, one was appointed under Exemption 5: Former Civil Servant, 27 under Exemption 1: Temporary appointments, and two under the Military Transition scheme.

The appointments are based on a justifiable need of the Civil Service under Exemption 1: Temporary appointments; where either the urgency of the need or the short duration of the role make a full competition impracticable or disproportionate, Departments may appoint an individual for up to a maximum of two years, to provide managers with the flexibility to meet the short-term needs of the Civil Service, Exemption 5: Former civil servants; Former civil servants who were previously appointed on merit on the basis of fair and open competition may be re-appointed (to a permanent or fixed-term appointment) within a maximum of five years of leaving the Civil Service.

The Military Transition scheme is a Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) scheme run through the Cabinet Office. In the summer of 2019 this became an accredited scheme to recruit veterans and their spouses into the Civil Service.