Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many job vacancies there are in each Government (a) department and (b) agency.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As at 8am on 19 July, there are 3,349 adverts for 10,409 total postings advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website. The below table shows vacancies and posts by department.
Department | Agency (if applicable) | Adverts Live | Total Posts Live |
Ministry of Defence | Ministry of Defence | 597 | 1,199 |
HM Prison & Probation Service | HM Prison & Probation Service | 519 | 3,480 |
HM Revenue and Customs | HM Revenue and Customs | 243 | 504 |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Internal) | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Internal) | 230 | 262 |
UK Health Security Agency | UK Health Security Agency | 112 | 175 |
Home Office | Home Office | 107 | 990 |
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy | Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy | 86 | 164 |
Ministry of Justice | Ministry of Justice | 82 | 206 |
Department for Work and Pensions | Department for Work and Pensions | 76 | 396 |
Cabinet Office | Cabinet Office | 50 | 60 |
Department for International Trade | Department for International Trade | 50 | 61 |
Department of Health and Social Care | Department of Health and Social Care | 48 | 54 |
Office for National Statistics | Office for National Statistics | 47 | 149 |
Department for Education | Department for Education | 45 | 71 |
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory | Defence Science and Technology Laboratory | 43 | 203 |
Crown Prosecution Service | Crown Prosecution Service | 39 | 82 |
Health and Safety Executive | Health and Safety Executive | 38 | 63 |
HM Courts and Tribunals Service | HM Courts and Tribunals Service | 38 | 297 |
OFGEM | OFGEM | 37 | 57 |
Natural England | Natural England | 36 | 82 |
Scottish Government | Scottish Government | 34 | 43 |
Department for Transport | Department for Transport | 30 | 32 |
Forestry Commission | Forestry Commission | 26 | 28 |
HM Treasury | HM Treasury | 26 | 31 |
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency | Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency | 24 | 36 |
House of Commons | House of Commons | 23 | 32 |
Social Security Scotland | Social Security Scotland | 22 | 70 |
Government Digital Service | Government Digital Service | 20 | 30 |
Insolvency Service | Insolvency Service | 20 | 34 |
Homes England | Homes England | 19 | 28 |
Government Legal Department | Government Legal Department | 17 | 146 |
DEFRA | Food Standards Agency | 16 | 20 |
Government Commercial Function | Government Commercial Function | 16 | 29 |
Care Quality Commission | Care Quality Commission | 16 | 65 |
Forestry Commission - Forest Research | Forestry Commission - Forest Research | 16 | 16 |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 15 | 25 |
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | 15 | 16 |
College of Policing | College of Policing | 15 | 44 |
UK Hydrographic Office | UK Hydrographic Office | 15 | 49 |
Valuation Office Agency | Valuation Office Agency | 14 | 130 |
Pensions Regulator | Pensions Regulator | 13 | 16 |
Met Office | Met Office | 13 | 23 |
Welsh Government | Welsh Government | 13 | 56 |
National Crime Agency | National Crime Agency | 13 | 144 |
The Money and Pensions Service | The Money and Pensions Service | 13 | 18 |
Government Property Agency | Government Property Agency | 12 | 29 |
DEFRA | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 12 | 13 |
Legal Aid Agency | Legal Aid Agency | 11 | 29 |
Historic Environment Scotland | Historic Environment Scotland | 10 | 10 |
HM Land Registry | HM Land Registry | 10 | 18 |
Information Commissioner's Office | Information Commissioner's Office | 10 | 19 |
FCDO Services | FCDO Services | 10 | 10 |
Crown Commercial Service | Crown Commercial Service | 9 | 14 |
Office for Students | Office for Students | 9 | 20 |
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills | Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills | 9 | 12 |
Disclosure & Barring Service | Disclosure & Barring Service | 8 | 16 |
UK Export Finance | UK Export Finance | 8 | 11 |
Department for Transport | Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency | 8 | 20 |
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew | Royal Botanic Gardens Kew | 8 | 9 |
House of Lords | House of Lords | 8 | 9 |
Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation | Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation | 7 | 7 |
Companies House | Companies House | 7 | 7 |
Marine Management Organisation | Marine Management Organisation | 7 | 9 |
Government Office for Science | Government Office for Science | 7 | 28 |
GCHQ | GCHQ | 7 | 22 |
UK Space Agency | UK Space Agency | 7 | 7 |
Joint Nature Conservation Committee | Joint Nature Conservation Committee | 6 | 6 |
Student Loans Company | Student Loans Company | 6 | 14 |
Department for Transport | Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency | 6 | 92 |
Department for Transport | Maritime and Coastguard Agency | 6 | 10 |
Serious Fraud Office | Serious Fraud Office | 5 | 9 |
Office of the Public Guardian | Office of the Public Guardian | 5 | 12 |
Trade Remedies Authority | Trade Remedies Authority | 5 | 5 |
Planning Inspectorate | Planning Inspectorate | 5 | 7 |
Cross Departmental Opportunities | Cross Departmental Opportunities | 5 | 9 |
UK Statistics Authority | UK Statistics Authority | 4 | 4 |
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service | Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service | 4 | 5 |
DEFRA | Rural Payments Agency | 4 | 5 |
Northern Ireland Office | Northern Ireland Office | 4 | 6 |
Forestry and Land Scotland | Forestry and Land Scotland | 4 | 4 |
Intellectual Property Office | Intellectual Property Office | 4 | 4 |
Consumer Scotland | Consumer Scotland | 4 | 5 |
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education | Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education | 4 | 4 |
Office of Rail and Road | Office of Rail and Road | 4 | 5 |
Government Statistical Service | Government Statistical Service | 4 | 40 |
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre | Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre | 4 | 10 |
Charity Commission | Charity Commission | 4 | 7 |
Independent Office for Police Conduct | Independent Office for Police Conduct | 4 | 5 |
Independent Monitoring Authority | Independent Monitoring Authority | 3 | 3 |
UK Research and Innovation | UK Research and Innovation | 3 | 3 |
Government Internal Audit Agency | Government Internal Audit Agency | 3 | 4 |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | 3 | 7 |
Medical Research Council | Medical Research Council | 3 | 3 |
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority | Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority | 3 | 3 |
The National Lottery Community Fund | The National Lottery Community Fund | 3 | 3 |
DEFRA | Animal and Plant Health Agency | 3 | 3 |
Defence Electronics & Components Agency | Defence Electronics & Components Agency | 3 | 3 |
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service | Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service | 3 | 3 |
Gambling Commission | Gambling Commission | 3 | 3 |
Registers of Scotland | Registers of Scotland | 3 | 4 |
Competition & Markets Authority | Competition & Markets Authority | 2 | 3 |
Innovate UK | Innovate UK | 2 | 3 |
National Savings and Investments | National Savings and Investments | 2 | 2 |
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman | 2 | 2 |
Housing Ombudsman Service | Housing Ombudsman Service | 2 | 2 |
MI5 | MI5 | 2 | 2 |
DEFRA | Veterinary Medicines Directorate | 2 | 2 |
Office for Nuclear Regulation | Office for Nuclear Regulation | 2 | 2 |
Ofwat (Water Services Regulation Authority) | Ofwat (Water Services Regulation Authority) | 2 | 3 |
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | 2 | 2 |
Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council | Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council | 2 | 10 |
Security Industry Authority | Security Industry Authority | 2 | 3 |
Office for Environmental Protection | Office for Environmental Protection | 1 | 2 |
Equality and Human Rights Commission | Equality and Human Rights Commission | 1 | 1 |
Home Office | Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services | 1 | 1 |
The National Archives | The National Archives | 1 | 1 |
Valuation Tribunal Service | Valuation Tribunal Service | 1 | 1 |
DEFRA | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science | 1 | 2 |
MI6 - Secret Intelligence Service | MI6 - Secret Intelligence Service | 1 | 1 |
Government Actuary's Department | Government Actuary's Department | 1 | 5 |
Environmental Standards Scotland | Environmental Standards Scotland | 1 | 1 |
Scottish Forestry | Scottish Forestry | 1 | 1 |
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority | Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority | 1 | 1 |
UK Debt Management Office | UK Debt Management Office | 1 | 1 |
Parole Board | Parole Board | 1 | 1 |
Criminal Cases Review Commission | Criminal Cases Review Commission | 1 | 1 |
Youth Justice Board | Youth Justice Board | 1 | 6 |
Building Digital UK (BDUK) | Building Digital UK (BDUK) | 1 | 1 |
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence | National Institute for Health and Care Excellence | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 3,349 | 10,409 |
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2022 in meeting the Government's foreign policy objectives.
Answered by Vicky Ford
At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Commonwealth Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to work together across a number of UK foreign policy priority areas, including trade, climate, women and girls. The Prime Minister spoke at the CHOGM Business Forum on his vision to deepen trade and investment between Commonwealth countries and announced the launch of the Developing Country Trading Scheme (DCTS) benefitting 18 Commonwealth countries. The Foreign Secretary highlighted concerns about the impact of the war in Ukraine on food and energy security. Together with the External Affair's Minister of India, the Foreign Secretary also announced a new Commonwealth Diplomatic Academy programme for young diplomats. My Right Honourable friend Alok Sharma, the COP26 President, hosted a high level climate side event with Rwanda on maintaining momentum towards COP27. The UK, including Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for the Commonwealth, held bilateral discussions and underlined our unwavering commitment to the Commonwealth family, including through support such as an additional £217 million as part of our ongoing commitment to support Girls Education priorities and a further investment of £2.7 million to support work on the rights LGBT+ people.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing paid leave for people who have undertaken special guardianship orders.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Government recognises the important role that Special Guardians play looking after children.
Statutory guidance is clear that local authorities should consider financial help for special guardians. Qualifying special guardians are also entitled to annual leave, the right to request flexible working and unpaid parental leave to help them balance their family and work responsibilities.
The recently published Independent Care Review made recommendations to support special guardians and kinship carers. The Government is carefully considering all the recommendations in the Care Review and will respond in due course.
Asked by: Allan Dorans (Scottish National Party - Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress she has made in discussions with the Chinese Government on the resumption of direct scheduled flights from the UK to China following the unilateral ban imposed by China in 2021.
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK Government understands the impact that the ongoing suspension of direct flights has had on the business, academia and tourism sectors, as well as those separated from family and friends. The Department for Transport and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office have been working together to seek agreement from the Chinese Government for the necessary conditions to be met to provide for the resumption of direct scheduled passenger services. We continue to raise this in Beijing and London at the highest levels.
Asked by: Lyn Brown (Labour - West Ham)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps her Department will take to support the prevention of Obstetric fistula globally in 2022-2023; and how much funding will be allocated to programmes in Sub-Saharan Africa to this end..
Answered by Amanda Milling - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The UK is well aware of the lasting trauma caused by obstetric fistula globally - the stigmatisation that results and the ultimate ruin of many women's lives. The condition affects up to 100,000 women each year, largely in low income countries. The UK's work is mainly on the prevention of obstetric fistula. Key factors include delaying the age of first pregnancy and ensuring access to timely quality obstetric care. The UK supports family planning, adolescent sexual reproductive health and rights and maternal health through a combination of central and country programmes, such as the £260 million Women's Integrated Sexual Health programme (2018-2023), which now works across 17 African countries. We recently published a paper outlining our approach to Ending the Preventable Deaths of Mothers, Babies and Children by 2030.
We cannot comment on plans for specific countries or regions until ongoing business planning is finalised.
Asked by: Catherine West (Labour - Hornsey and Wood Green)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, what steps he is taking to reduce backlogs in family court cases.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
We continue to take action to tackle the impact the pandemic has had on our courts and tribunals system. We invested £250 million to support recovery in our courts in the 2020/21 financial year. This included £76 million to increase our capacity to hear cases in the family and civil courts, as well as in tribunals. The recent Spending Review has also provided £324 million over the next three years to improve waiting times in the civil and family courts, and tribunals.
We increased Cafcass’ budget by £8.3 million for 2021/22 so that they have more capacity and can manage the additional pressures caused by the pandemic. We also provided Cafcass with an additional £491,000 to support work in the areas of the country where their resources are most under pressure.
We are maximising sittings from the judicial capacity available to work through our caseload. With the removal of Covid restrictions on 1st April 2022, face-to-face physical capacity is returning to business as usual during April although remote hearings will continue to play a part in the overall recovery effort.
Last financial year (2021/22) we undertook one of our most ambitious programmes of judicial recruitment ever, so that we can hear as many cases as possible. In the same year we lifted the number of days fee-paid judges can sit from 30 days to 80 for the second year in a row.
We are also managing demand in the family courts to ensure the capacity can be used most effectively to tackle the outstanding caseload. In March 2021 we launched a Family Mediation Voucher Scheme for those seeking to resolve private law matters relating to a child. Since its introduction, over 7,700 families have successfully used the scheme to access mediation and help resolve disputes outside of court.
In public family law, the outstanding caseload, by child, stood at 21,800 cases in January 2022. In 2021, average monthly disposals were roughly 200 more than they were in 2020. In private family law, the outstanding caseload, by child, in January 2022 stood at 83,000 cases, below the August 2021 peak of 85,000. In 2021, average monthly disposals were roughly 1,100 more per month than they were in 2020.
Asked by: Matthew Offord (Conservative - Hendon)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, what steps his Department plans to take ensure to that people who reside in non-family households are not penalised if they move to other properties within the period when the energy bills rebate is recharged.
Answered by Greg Hands - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The Government understands there will be cases where changes in people’s circumstances mean they may not directly be the recipient of the reduction, but still see increases in future bills, or vice versa.
The Energy Bills Support Scheme, as announced by my rt. hon. Friend Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer on 3 February, is currently the subject of a government consultation issued on 11 April.
The implementation of the policy will be reviewed following the conclusion of the consultation.
Asked by: Wera Hobhouse (Liberal Democrat - Bath)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, for what reason Maternity Action has been removed from his Department's Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board.
Answered by Paul Scully
The Pregnancy and Maternity Discrimination Advisory Board’s purpose is to consider non-legislative improvements to reduce pregnancy and maternity discrimination in the workplace. It is a collaboration between Government, employer and family representative groups and the membership needs the right balance between those different groups in order for the Board to do its job.
Asked by: Ruth Jones (Labour - Newport West)
Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:
To ask the Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, with reference to figures from the Electoral Commission released on 2 March 2022 recording the Conservative Party received £80,000 from Lubov Chernukhin in the last quarter, what assessment he has made of the implications for his policies of donations to political parties.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
UK electoral law already sets out a stringent regime of donations controls that bans foreign donations. Individuals must be on the UK electoral roll to make political donations; in the case of companies, they must be properly carrying on business in the UK. The Government is strengthening the corporate transparency regime to ensure this is the case.
Reportable donations are overseen by the Electoral Commission. If the Hon. Member has a query relating to its operational policy and guidance on permissible donations, she may wish to ask a question via the Speaker’s Committee on the Electoral Commission.
More broadly, I would make the following observation: there are people in this country of Russian origin who are British citizens. Many are critics of Putin and have condemned his invasion of Ukraine. It is completely wrong and discriminatory to tar them all with the same brush because of their family background or past nationality.
Asked by: James Murray (Labour (Co-op) - Ealing North)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimates he has made of the costs to business of (a) the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy from April 2023 and (b) the transitional increase to the main and additional rates of National Insurance contributions in 2022-23 arising from (i) familiarisation with the changes, (ii) updating software or systems, and (iii) updating employee payroll records.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The announcement of the National Insurance contributions (NICs) increase in the 2022-23 tax year and the introduction of the Health and Social Care levy (HSCL) from 2023-24 onwards will impact 1.6 million employers. Businesses will face one-off costs to familiarise themselves with the changes and to update employee payroll records. The impacts on businesses can be found in the HSCL Tax information and Impact Note which was published by HMRC: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/health-and-social-care-levy/health-and-social-care-levy.
Family Test assessments are not routinely published. Decisions on whether and how to publish complete Family Test assessments fall within the responsibility of each Government department.
The announcement of the NICs increase in the 2022-23 tax year and the introduction of the HSCL from 2023-24 onwards was made ahead of the announcement of annual changes that payroll software providers make each year. It is expected that these changes will form part of the annual change process for software developers.
An initial estimate of the cost for changes to HMRC’s IT systems and extra support staff was provided to Parliament by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury on 14 September 2021. The initial estimated cost was £40-50 million. A further estimate will be available in due course.