Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the Attorney General:
To ask the Solicitor General, how many employees in her Department earn (a) £100,000 and (b) £166,000 or more per year.
Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Attorney General’s Office follows Civil Service Commission guidance on recruitment of its staff and remunerates consistent to Cabinet Office rules. All government departments are required to publish the salaries of Senior Civil Servants in their Annual Report and Accounts laid in parliament.
I would direct the MP for Great Yarmouth to the HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor Annual Report and Accounts 2024-25, published on gov.uk.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps his Department is taking to ensure the removal of potential bias relating to (a) class, (b) race and (c) disability in civil service recruitment.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027 outlines our commitment to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds. Appointment to the Civil Service must be based on merit on the basis of fair and open competition.
To support this, and reduce the potential for bias in the recruitment process, the Cabinet Office uses name-blind recruitment where applications are anonymised during sifting. Information on candidates' socio-economic background and race is collected for monitoring and reporting purposes, but hiring managers are not provided with access to this information for individual candidates.
The Cabinet Office also uses the Disability Confident Scheme (DCS), ensuring disabled candidates who meet the minimum criteria for a role are given a fair opportunity to demonstrate their skills at interview.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to (a) monitor and (b) help tackle potential civil service recruitment barriers for candidates from underrepresented backgrounds.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027 outlines our commitment to having a Civil Service that reflects the composition of our society, attracting, retaining and investing in talent wherever it is found. This includes better socio-economic representation and investing in our young people.
We have recently launched a two year Careers Launch Apprenticeship scheme in Birmingham, Manchester and London, to support our young people. In addition, the Cabinet Office develops and supports Going Forward into Employment (GFiE) recruitment pathways across government. GFiE brings people who face barriers to employment into the Civil Service. There are over 20 GFiE pathways in place and over 3,600 people have joined the Civil Service through GFiE since 2018. These are just two of the ways in which we demonstrate our ambition regarding underrepresented backgrounds.
Diversity data is collected from candidates during the recruitment process and made available to departments to support their people strategies.
Asked by: James Naish (Labour - Rushcliffe)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the progress of the civil service in increasing the proportion of recruits from (a) lower socio-economic backgrounds, (b) with disabilities and (c) from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
We are committed to having a Civil Service that reflects the composition of our society, attracting, retaining and investing in talent wherever it is found. This includes better socio-economic representation and investing in our young people. We have recently launched a two year Careers Launch Apprenticeship scheme in Birmingham, Manchester and London, to support our ambition.
We continue to monitor the diversity of our candidates and workforce to improve our recruitment in these areas and tackle barriers to employment.
Asked by: Rebecca Paul (Conservative - Reigate)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what recent assessment his Department has made of the potential impact of the requirement for applicants to demonstrate three years of continuous residence in the UK to be considered for civil service roles on the ability of British nationals who have spent periods residing abroad to join the civil service.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
To join the Civil Service, individuals must pass pre-employment checks contained within the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). As part of the Right to Work check conducted within the BPSS, organisations need to assure themselves through obtaining documentation if individuals have resided overseas for six months or more within the last three years.
For Civil Service roles that require National Security Vetting (NSV), in order for meaningful NSV checks to be carried out, individuals will need to have lived in the UK for a sufficient period of time. This period varies depending on the level of clearance required, to enable appropriate checks to provide the required level of assurance. For the Counter Terrorism Check (CTC), the recommended UK residency is three years preceding the NSV application.
These NSV policies are long standing and are kept under regular review.
Asked by: Kevin Hollinrake (Conservative - Thirsk and Malton)
Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:
To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2025 to Question 54896 on Civil Service: Recruitment, what the expected level of office attendance is in each of her Department’s offices outside London; and whether civil servants recruited under location-neutral positions have the same expectation of workplace attendance.
Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)
In line with this department’s policy, civil servants in offices outside London are generally expected to attend the office for 50% of their working time over a three-month period. Some exceptions apply where specific circumstances limit attendance to less than 50%. Senior Civil Servants are expected to attend an MHCLG office or external location for 60% of their time, regardless of their location. Colleagues who have home-working contracts account for less than 1% of the department’s workforce and do not have the same office attendance expectations. All other staff are contracted to fixed MHCLG locations where the same expectations on office attendance apply. MHCLG maintains an ambition to move to 60% attendance for all staff in future.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the National Security Adviser plays a role in the (a) recruitment and (b) selection of civil servants working on national security issues; and whether he has had discussions with the Civil Service Commission on this issue.
Answered by Abena Oppong-Asare
Special advisers are bound by the Special Adviser Code of Conduct which states they should not be involved in the line management of civil servants or in matters affecting a civil servant’s career such as recruitment, promotion, reward and discipline. The commission ensures the integrity of recruitment, including in the NSS, in the usual way.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2024 to Question 12700 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, if he will place in the Library a copy of the information provided by the Cabinet Office to the Civil Service Commission.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
There are no plans to publish this information in the Library. This information contains personal data and publishing it in the Library would be considered a breach of data protection legislation. The report that this information was used to inform is available on the Civil Service Commission’s website.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy for each Department to routinely publish details of recruitment principle exceptions below SCS2 level.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
I refer the Rt Hon gentleman to the answer to PQ_29020.
Aggregate data is published on details of appointments by exception below SCS2 grade. There has been no change to these arrangements since the new government took office
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2024, to Question 13438 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, if he will place in the Library a copy of the text on diversity included in civil service job adverts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The current text was agreed by the previous administration and has not changed under the current government.
The text included in Civil Service Job adverts is:
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the Civil Service People Plan and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy.