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 2 January 2026 to Question 100340 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, how many senior civil servants have been recruited to posts not advertised externally in the last 12 months.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Between 1 January 2025 and 31 December 2025, there were 90 provisional offers made for Senior Civil Service (SCS) posts (permanent and temporary) that were advertised across government but not advertised externally. This is data obtained from Civil Service Jobs and does not include internal recruitment, which might have been conducted within a department. As per our External by Default policy, SCS vacancies which are not advertised externally must be approved by a Minister or Permanent Secretary equivalent in non-Ministerial departments.
Asked by: Lord Reid of Cardowan (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the adequacy of current apprenticeship standards in meeting the UK’s future workforce needs in the digital and green industries.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
One of Skills England’s priorities is co-creating and refining a set of education and training products with employers and other partners, including occupational standards, apprenticeships and technical qualifications. Skills England is working with employers and other experts as well as analysing data to ensure apprenticeships and technical qualifications meet the needs of the current and future workforce.
Apprenticeships and technical education in the digital route play a crucial role in developing the next generation of skilled tech professionals, equipping them with the technical expertise and practical experience needed to thrive in a rapidly evolving industry.
Skills England have approved 34 digital apprenticeship standards representing a range of technical roles (e.g. digital support, network and telecoms, cyber, software design and development, data and AI) and unlike most occupations, they underpin a range of industries and employment sectors.
Skills England also has regular meetings with other government departments including DESNZ and DWP to ensure technical education supports Industrial Strategy priority sectors such as Digital and Clean Energy in order to drive growth.
The government’s Clean Energy Superpower mission includes challenging targets to provide lower cost, clean, secure power, with good jobs. The government published a Clean Energy Industries Sector Plan in June and a Clean Energy Jobs Plan in October. These documents set out how the government will contribute to the skills pipeline by making sure skills gaps in green industries are filled through a package of recruitment and training.
Asked by: Anneliese Midgley (Labour - Knowsley)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has made to ensure sufficient NHS staffing and resources during the 2025–26 flu season.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
Decisions about recruitment and resourcing are a matter for individual National Health Service employers, who manage this at a local level to ensure they have the staff they need to deliver safe and effective care. We continue to monitor the impact of winter pressures on the NHS over the winter months, providing additional support as needed.
The Department is continuing to take key steps to ensure the health service is prepared throughout the colder months. This includes taking actions to try and reduce demand pressure on accident and emergency departments, increasing vaccination rates and offering health checks to the most vulnerable, as well as stress-testing integrated care board and trust winter plans to ensure they are able to meet demand and ensure patient flow.
The Government is committed to publishing a 10 Year Workforce Plan to set out action to create a workforce ready to deliver the transformed service set out in the 10-Year Health Plan. The 10 Year Workforce Plan will ensure the NHS has the right people in the right places, with the right skills to care for patients, when they need it.
Asked by: Mike Wood (Conservative - Kingswinford and South Staffordshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment they have made of the impact of vetting delays on (a) recruitment and (b) project delivery across government departments and national security agencies.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
Since April 2024, United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) has consistently met its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPI), across each product type.
With the appropriate Ministerial oversight, UKSV works closely with the departments and decision-making authorities they serve to understand their forecasted demand for the provision of vetting services.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Karin Smyth - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department has not run any recruitment with the sole aim of increasing the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
The Department has not run any internship schemes but has participated in the following internship schemes, to deliver greater diversity in the Civil Service and make it more representative of the people it serves, in the past 12 months:
Asked by: Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party - Strangford)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps her Department is taking to help tackle recruitment to Palestine Action.
Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government is clear that encouragement of terrorism, including glorifying the commission or preparation of acts of terrorism, fundraising for the purposes of terrorism, and inviting support for a proscribed terrorism organisation, such as Palestine Action are all criminal offences. Those under the Prevent duty should not provide a platform for an offence to be committed, or facilitate this activity through provision of endorsement, funding or other forms of support. The Prevent Duty Guidance sets out how local partners should reduce permissive environments to disrupt those who radicalise others to terrorism.
Through the Prevent programme, the Home Office works closely with local partners, policing, and other government departments to raise awareness of the signs of radicalisation and disrupt those groups that radicalise others, online and in communities. This includes ensuring that individuals, particularly those subject to the Prevent duty, are aware that a Prevent referral should be made if there are concerns that a person may be on a pathway that could lead to terrorism.
More broadly, our efforts to counter extremism span a broad range of Government and law enforcement activity and we must persist in our efforts to challenge extremist narratives, disrupt the activity of radicalising groups, and directly tackle the causes of radicalisation.
Asked by: Richard Holden (Conservative - Basildon and Billericay)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 September 2025 to Question 71194 on Department for Culture, Media and Sport: Equality, what mechanisms are in place to ensure (a) consistency and (b) value for money in the recruitment of Diversity and Inclusion managers in all Government departments.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Recruitment is delegated to Government Departments based on their workforce strategy.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to page 48 of the Defence Industrial Strategy: Making Defence an Engine for Growth, published on 8 September 2025, CP 1388, what his Department's planned timetable is for broadening the range of employers it supports through the Jobs and Careers Service.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Department for Work and Pensions through the new Jobs and Careers Service is taking steps to broaden its support for employers by engaging over 8,000 strategic and local businesses, tailoring services to regional labour market needs, and collaborating with trade bodies and Government Departments to deliver inclusive recruitment campaigns, sector-specific training, and modernised job-matching tools. This is as a result of the Get Britain Working White Paper published in November 2024.
Asked by: Lee Anderson (Reform UK - Ashfield)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether their Department has run any (a) recruitment and (b) internship schemes aimed to increase the number of people from underrepresented groups in the workforce in the last year.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)
All Civil Service departments work within the Recruitment Principles, as regulated by the Civil Service Commission, to recruit using a fair and open process and appoint on merit.
As set out in the Civil Service People Plan 2024 - 2027, we are committed to ensuring we attract, develop and retain talented people from a diverse range of backgrounds, to create a modern Civil Service, now and for the future.
The Home Office have run Internship schemes aimed at increasing representation of underrepresented groups within the Home Office workforce in the last year:
The Home Office also support Government Employment Programs that utilse an exception within the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. This allows departments to appoint individuals temporarily for up to two years, providing fixed-term Civil Service roles for those whose circumstances and previous life chances make it difficult to compete for appointments on merit, and on the basis of fair and open competition, without further work experience and/or training opportunities. The programs the Home Office have employed over the last 12 months are:
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 2 June 2025 to Question 41438 on Government Departments: Conditions of Employment, whether his Department has issued guidance on the use of (a) zero hour contracts and (b) contingent labour.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office has not issued guidance on (a) zero hours contracts as the Department does not use this method of employment for Cabinet Office employees. In respect of (b) Contingent labour for Cabinet Office, guidance is published as part of the wider Cabinet Office Recruitment Controls.