Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference his Department's statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.

On 2 October 2023, the Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.

The Civil Service grew in size to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal war in the Ukraine but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.

As part of this Government’s commitment to transparency, my Department publishes workforce statistics each month. Information about staffing levels since 2006 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/payroll-costs-and-non-consolidated-pay-data

The data requested can be found at the following links

(a) March 2020, table 8

(b) March 2016, table 8

(c) March 2011, table 8