Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of changes in pay differentials between (a) E1 and (b) E2 grade salaries on (i) recruitment and (ii) progression.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
In November 2022 the Chancellor announced that the National Living Wage would rise from £9.50 per hour to £10.42 per hour. The Ministry of Defence (MOD) uplifted the affected salaries of staff to ensure compliance with the new rates from April 2023.
This pay rise has affected a number of MOD grades and has led to several grades being paid the same, including Administrative Assistant (AA), Administrative Officer (AO) and Skill Zones 1 and 2 employees. Officials and teams across the department continue to work to understand what this will mean for those in the affected grades and a working group has been set up to consider the impacts of this rise in National Living wage. Any updates will be communicated with all staff in due course.
Whilst Defence is pleased that employees of the Department have received this increase to their pay, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State and the Civilian Personnel area appreciate that the compression of our grades will have implications. It is a priority for us to communicate with colleagues directly impacted as soon as possible.
In addition to this, the Government recently published the pay remit guidance which allows departments to make average pay awards up to 4.5% with an additional flexibility to pay up to a further 0.5% targeted at the lowest paid within the Department. An addendum to this pay remit has also been published, inviting departments to provide a one-off payment of £1,500 in recognition of the pressures felt during the 2022-23 pay year. The Department is currently working to understand what this means for Defence in 2023 and updates on this will be communicated to staff at the earliest available opportunity.
Asked by: Lucy Powell (Labour (Co-op) - Manchester Central)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the Government's publication A pro-innovation approach to AI regulation, published on 29 March 2023, how much and what proportion of the budget of each regulator in their Department was spent on regulation of artificial intelligence in the latest period for which information is available; how many staff in each regulator worked (a) wholly and (b) partly on those issues in the latest period for which information is available; and whether those regulators plan to increase resources for their work on artificial intelligence.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The AI White Paper emphasised the importance of ensuring that UK regulators and public bodies have the capacity, expertise, and capabilities to implement government’s pro-innovation approach whilst recognising and understanding the risks. This is particularly true for those regulators for which AI falls squarely within their regulatory remit, but also applies to a much wider range of public and regulatory bodies considering the implications AI has across the economy.
The Cabinet Office ALBs include 3 bodies that are either formally or informally classified as regulators:
The Civil Service Commission: The CSC are often referred to as a ‘regulator’ of recruitment into the Civil Service but undertake assurance/compliance work in respect of civil service recruitment only and are out of scope.
The UK Statistics Authority includes the Office of Statistics Regulation who set the statutory Code of Practice for Statistics and assess compliance with the Code. The Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR) utilises a regulator on a 0.33 FTE basis for their work providing guidance on how the principles in the Code of Practice for Statistics can help in designing, developing and using models to improve their trustworthiness, quality and value. Their guidance covers both traditional statistical techniques, such as linear regressions, and newer techniques, like machine learning, when they are used to create outputs that inform decision making or public policy. The OSR also regularly engages with other regulators on this topic through the attendance of workshops and working groups to ensure they remain aware and responsive to any developments in this space. The OSR does not plan to increase the time allocated to these issues. The promotion of the Code of Practice for Statistics into new areas of statistical analysis and data use has been a long-standing area of focus for the next year, and will continue to be, including in relation to AI (e.g. large language models).
The Equalities and Human Rights Commission: the Equalities Hub have provided a separate response on this PQ (188555) via the Rt Hon Kemi Badenoch MP, Minister for Equalities.
As part of the AI regulation White Paper consultation, we are engaging closely with regulators across the wider landscape and their sponsoring government departments to understand the organisational capacity they need to regulate AI effectively, across technical, regulatory, and market-specific expertise. This will inform our work to develop policy options with a view to addressing any gaps that emerge.
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 5 June to Question 186376 on Government Departments: Apprentices, if he will provide a breakdown by Department of the percentage change in digital, data and technology apprenticeships between October 2021 and December 2022.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) apprenticeships are a way to gain industry standard qualifications whilst working full time in a salaried DDaT role in the Civil Service. During their programme, apprentices receive training from an apprenticeship provider in their chosen field, and apply their emerging knowledge and skills to their full time role as a DDaT professional.
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) is working with departments and commercial teams to address barriers to fully utilising the apprentice levy, including through increasing apprentice provider choice.
We have also grown our early talent offers. CDDO is now in the process of building a cross-government digital apprenticeship programme ‘Tech Track’ which aims to upskill existing Civil Servants into the DDaT profession through apprenticeships, targeting 350-500 roles in its first year from Q1 2024.
Apprentice numbers regularly fluctuate year to year as apprentices begin and finish their courses at different stages throughout the year. External factors play a significant role in decisions to invest in apprenticeships. These include the impact of Covid-19 on recruitment and operation of apprenticeships, and proposed reductions to overall Civil Service headcount, prompting departments to prioritise fully developed staff. Changes to the recruitment of apprentices will not be reflected in the number of apprentices in departments until the following year.
Data provided by the Civil Service Apprenticeship Unit (CSAU) shows that, between September 2021 and December 2022, the number of apprentices fluctuated as per the below table:
Department | On programme Apprentices September 2021 | On programme Apprentices December 2022 | Percentage Change |
Ministry of Justice | 2 | 22 | 1000% |
Ministry of Defence | 39 | 116 | 197% |
Department for International Trade | 1 | 2 | 100% |
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 7 | 12 | 71% |
Department for Education | 20 | 23 | 15% |
United Kingdom Statistics Authority | 9 | 10 | 11% |
Attorney General's Departments | 1 | 1 | 0% |
Department for Work and Pensions | 169 | 163 | -4% |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | 15 | 12 | -20% |
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (and former partners) | 70 | 53 | -24% |
National Crime Agency | 4 | 3 | -25% |
Cabinet Office | 35 | 23 | -34% |
Competition and Markets Authority | 2 | 1 | -50% |
Department For Digital Culture Media And Sport | 4 | 2 | -50% |
HM Revenue and Customs | 248 | 117 | -52% |
Home Office | 89 | 41 | -54% |
Department for Transport | 53 | 22 | -58% |
Department of Health and Social Care | 34 | 13 | -62% |
Charity Commission | 3 | - |
|
Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities | - | 1 |
|
Asked by: Nick Smith (Labour - Blaenau Gwent)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the report from the National Audit Office entitled Digital transformation in government: addressing the barriers to efficiency, published on 10 March 2023, what assessment he has made of the implications for (a) his policies and (b) digital transformation in Government of that report's finding of a reduction of 20 per cent in the number of digital, data and technology apprenticeships between October 2021 and December 202.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Government is committed to strengthening digital and technology specialist skills and has increased the number of recorded specialists by 10% since the establishment of the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data.
Individual departments are ultimately responsible for their own resourcing decisions and will have their own rationale for specific choices made. Additionally, apprenticeship headcounts will fluctuate over time linked to factors like the procurement of suppliers and the cohort based nature of apprenticeship recruitment.
Apprentices are a core part of our thriving digital community, as are graduates and interns, and we are committed to ensuring that the trend in reduction of apprentices is reversed. Indeed, since the report was published, the number of recorded apprentices has increased by 6.2%.
The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) are currently working with departments and commercial teams to address some of the barriers to fully utilising apprentice levy’s in government, including through increasing supplier choice.
Asked by: Sharon Hodgson (Labour - Washington and Sunderland West)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps her Department takes to vet the (a) financial interests and (b) potential conflicts of interest of non-executive board members before their appointment.
Answered by George Freeman
In accordance with the code of practice for corporate governance in central government departments, the Department requires non-executive directors to declare sources of renumeration, contracts, shares and securities, non-financial interests, and related party interests that may influence, or may be perceived to influence, their judgement as a board member.
During the recruitment and onboarding process for non-executive directors my department conducts its own due diligence to make sure that office holders meet the standards set out in the code of conduct for board members. The Department reviews any real or potential conflicts of interests declared and publishes these, with any mitigating action taken, in the Department’s annual governance statement.
Asked by: Mark Hendrick (Labour (Co-op) - Preston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many civil servants have their (a) payroll and (ii) pensions managed by private limited company Shared Services Connected Ltd; what was the cost to the public purse of using this company in (i) 2020-21 (ii) 2021-22 and (iii) 2022-23; and whether he plans to take steps to administer the payroll and pensions of all civil servants in-house.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Shared Services Connected Ltd (SSCL) services are provided to approximately 260,000 civil servants across the Health and Safety Executive, Office for Nuclear Regulation, Ministry of Justice, Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Home Office, Department for Work and Pensions and Cabinet Office. SSCL costs for all Independent Shared Services Centre Two (ISSC2) departments in calendar year 2020 were £171m and for calendar year 2021 were £206m. This change was due to a surge of short term and catch up volumes as a result of the COVID pandemic and project start ups.
2022 calendar year costs have not yet been published. SSCL are contracted to perform as-is services until October 2025. Future service provision, beyond this date, is currently being considered for the whole of the civil service.
This system saves duplication of effort across government departments, enabling them to focus work and resources on the British people’s priorities.
The costs stated are for all services provided by SSCL which include HR, Finance, Recruitment and Procurement Services. Across all streams, they process approximately 6 million transactions per annum.
Asked by: Baroness Benjamin (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to assist victims of the Windrush scandal who still face long waits; and what plans they have to review the levels of compensation granted to applicants of the Windrush Compensation Scheme.
Answered by Lord Murray of Blidworth
Following implementation of the significant changes made to the Scheme since December 2020, we are now fully focused on reducing the time between claim submission and decision. The Scheme continues to run ongoing recruitment campaigns to ensure the necessary level of staffing is maintained and has continued to backfill those who have left. Alongside significantly increasing the number of EO decision makers, the Scheme has also increased quality assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace.
In the meantime, as set out by the Home Secretary at the Windrush Working Group Meeting on 24 January 2023, additional experienced EO decision makers have been deployed on a temporary basis to assist with accelerating decision making, this is in addition to the established EO decision makers that are already in post.
Alongside significantly increasing the amount of Decision makers, we have also increased our Quality Assurance capacity to ensure more decisions can be assured and processed at pace. Furthermore, we are improving the evidence gathering process, including revising our data sharing agreements with other government departments.
We continue to listen and respond to feedback received from stakeholders and our customers to ensure the Scheme is operating effectively for everyone.
Asked by: Yasmin Qureshi (Labour - Bolton South East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what schemes the Government run to encourage people from lower socio-economic backgrounds into the civil service.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
We have a range of schemes to encourage people from lower all backgrounds to join the civil service including:
Apprenticeships, a new strategy was launched in April 2022 and included a target for lower-socio economic backgrounds.
Accelerated development schemes like the Fast Stream. (Representation from lower socio-economic backgrounds in the Fast Stream has increased annually since 2016.)
Civil Service Commission’s Going Forward into Employment Scheme: Life Chances scheme, uses innovative approaches to recruit people from a wide range of backgrounds into the Civil Service with targeted recruitment of care leavers, prison leavers and veterans.
Internships such as the Summer Diversity Internship Programme, the scope of which has been broadened to include lower-socio economic backgrounds.
Mentoring and sponsorship such as the Ministry of Justice Graduate Aspiration programme.
Outreach is carried out by many of our departments within Schools, Colleges and Universities to raise awareness of the broad range of Civil Service careers available.
Work experience placements such as Movement to Work which supports employers to provide work placements that combine employability skills training with on-the-job experience.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how much her Department spent on recruitment consultants in each of the last three years.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Department for Business and Trade was created on 7 February in a Machinery of Government change. During the period in question, the Department for International Trade (DIT) and the Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) were operating as two separate Departments.
DIT expenditure was: £648,408.47.
It is not possible to disaggregate the BEIS expenditure.
DIT spend
Year | Total Spend |
20/21 | £183,480.00 |
21/22 | £161,970.70 |
22/23 year to date 31/01/23 | £302,957.77 |
Total | £648,408.47 |
Asked by: Justin Madders (Labour - Ellesmere Port and Neston)
Question
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has contracted work to a business named in round 18 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme in the last 3 years.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Department has contracted work to a business named in round 18 of the National Minimum Wage Naming Scheme in the last 3 years. The Supplier has been engaged to provide recruitment services and supply contingent labour, through a regulated government Framework procured centrally for all government departments to use as needed. Through this Framework, the Supplier is governed by terms and conditions, overseen by the Framework Manager, and has agreed to the Framework rate card for the delivery of services.
Details of all government contracts, above £10,000 for the core Department and above £25,000 for the wider public sector, are published to Contracts Finder as part of the Department’s commitment to transparency.