Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) successfully renewed its Disability Confident Level 3 Leadership Certification in January 2024. This demonstrates our commitment to making the MOD a place that welcomes and encourages people with disabilities.
The MOD has a Disability Champion who is responsible for promoting inclusive behaviour; the postholder facilitates constructive challenge, fosters good relations in the workplace and contributes to the development of an inclusive culture. The Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) is owned by a HR Diversity and Inclusion policy lead who is responsible for engaging with stakeholders across the Department to ensure disability sits at the heart of our policies and processes and can be measured against the DCS criteria.
MOD supports the use of the DCS within its recruitment of civilian personnel and all MOD appointments advertised through Civil Service Jobs ask applicants if they wish to apply using DCS when they start their application. It is MOD policy that candidates using the scheme will be invited to interview provided they meet the minimum essential criteria for the advertised position. Recruiting panels also consider and implement any reasonable adjustments needed for interviews to ensure the selection process is fair for all candidates.
MOD also provides adjustments to support employees with disabilities throughout their employment as part of our responsibilities as an inclusive employer. These provisions take various forms, such as smart and flexible working, the provision of equipment and furniture for both office and home working, and IT software.
The MOD continues to monitor the effects of all actions aimed at making Defence a more attractive, diverse and inclusive employer. This work is having a positive effect on our overall representation of people who have declared a disability which has risen to 14% as at October 2023, an increase of 1.2 percentage points from April 2023.
The MOD has a range of inclusive training and career development opportunities, which are offered on a fair and open basis. The Future Leaders Scheme for eligible Grade 6&7 personnel, and the Senior Leaders Scheme for eligible Senior Civil Servants both offer successful candidates an accelerated development offer for those with a declared disability. The MOD’s Autism Exchange Intern Programme, developed in 2015, is a multi-award-winning programme which supports young people who are on the autistic spectrum to degree/postgraduate level qualifications. Reverse mentoring and challenge boards have also been implemented across the Department using staff from a range of under-represented groups, including those with disabilities. The MOD Talent Management Toolkit also offers advice and guidance to managers to ensure that all employees are treated fairly with regards to career advancement.
Finally, MOD has a DCS action plan and works with relevant stakeholders to implement actions; the group meets regularly to review progress against agreed actions.
Asked by: Caroline Nokes (Conservative - Romsey and Southampton North)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps their Department is taking to support the Disability Confident scheme; how many officials in their Department work directly on supporting that scheme; what assessment they have made of the effectiveness of that work in supporting the (a) recruitment and (b) retention of disabled people in their Department; and what further steps they are taking to support their Department’s recruitment and retention of disabled people.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP as part of its Policy portfolio is responsible for the administration of the Disability Confident Scheme – but this answer relates to how DWP as an employer uses and supports Disability Confident. DWP is committed to Disability Confident and back in November 2023 was re-accredited for the next three years as a Disability Confident Leader – the top-level award. In June 2023, 22% of DWP staff indicated that they had a disability (an increase of 3.7% compared to June 2021) and 13.6% of Senior Civil Servants in the department declared a disability (an increase of 1.6% compared to June 2021) – hence support in this space is a departmental priority.
There are no officials working specifically on Disability Confident outside of policy group in DWP – but we do have a Disability Lead working in our Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Wellbeing team who supported the co-ordination of the evidence.
As part of this submission DWP provided a large amount of evidence on the good practice that is happening with a focus on disability. This included but was not limited to:
Asked by: Maria Eagle (Labour - Garston and Halewood)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 March 2024 to Question 16605 on Ministry of Defence: Senior Civil Servants, how many senior responsible owner positions are filled with temporary cover.
Answered by James Cartlidge - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The Senior Responsible Owner resourcing position is monitored at local levels with formal reporting at the end of each quarter. At 31 March 2024, all of our 50 Government Major Projects Portfolio programmes had a Senior Responsible Owner in place who was accountable for decisions and making progress against the delivery plan.
In three cases these positions were filled temporarily while recruitment action takes place.
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2024 to Question 15551 on Civil Servants: Veterans, how many minority ethnic veterans were employed through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative in the last 12 months.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This Government is committed to making sure that all veterans have equal opportunities and can access valuable, sustainable careers, including in the Civil Service, after they leave the Armed Forces.
There are a range of Civil Service recruitment initiatives for veterans, offering a fulfilling career in public service which makes the most of the skills and capability they have to offer. Over 1,000 veterans to date have secured a job in the Civil Service through the ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative and a further 200 veterans have been recruited through the 'Going Forward Into Employment' initiative.
Whilst a breakdown of demographics of veterans who apply to Civil Service roles is not currently available, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs is committed to enhancing the collection, use and analysis of data across the public, private and charitable sectors to build our evidence base to effectively identify and address the needs of veterans
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15550 on Civil Servants: Veterans, whether his office captures regional data on veterans who access employment through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This Government is committed to making sure that all veterans have equal opportunities and can access valuable, sustainable careers, including in the Civil Service, after they leave the Armed Forces.
There are a range of Civil Service recruitment initiatives for veterans, offering a fulfilling career in public service which makes the most of the skills and capability they have to offer. Over 1,000 veterans to date have secured a job in the Civil Service through the ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative and a further 200 veterans have been recruited through the 'Going Forward Into Employment' initiative.
Whilst a breakdown of demographics of veterans who apply to Civil Service roles is not currently available, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs is committed to enhancing the collection, use and analysis of data across the public, private and charitable sectors to build our evidence base to effectively identify and address the needs of veterans
Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 1 March 2024 to Question 15551 on Civil Servants: Veterans, whether his office captures demographic data on veterans who access employment through the Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative.
Answered by Johnny Mercer - Minister of State (Cabinet Office) (Minister for Veterans' Affairs)
This Government is committed to making sure that all veterans have equal opportunities and can access valuable, sustainable careers, including in the Civil Service, after they leave the Armed Forces.
There are a range of Civil Service recruitment initiatives for veterans, offering a fulfilling career in public service which makes the most of the skills and capability they have to offer. Over 1,000 veterans to date have secured a job in the Civil Service through the ‘Great Place to Work for Veterans’ initiative and a further 200 veterans have been recruited through the 'Going Forward Into Employment' initiative.
Whilst a breakdown of demographics of veterans who apply to Civil Service roles is not currently available, the Office for Veterans’ Affairs is committed to enhancing the collection, use and analysis of data across the public, private and charitable sectors to build our evidence base to effectively identify and address the needs of veterans
Asked by: Jonathan Ashworth (Labour (Co-op) - Leicester South)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of civil service recruitment campaigns failed to fill the post advertised in each financial year from 2019/20.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The Government Recruitment Service collaborates with departments, functions and professions to develop and deliver high quality, customer-focused recruitment that identifies and attracts the best people for roles whilst offering a wide range of services. It offers core low-cost solutions to meet routine recruitment needs and handles more complex or specialist campaigns by tailoring its approach to attract and recruit the highest quality candidates.
The following table presents civil service recruitment campaigns with successful and unsuccessful vacancy outcomes for campaigns managed by the Government Recruitment Service.
Year | Vacancy Outcome Successful | Vacancy Outcome Unsuccessful | Total number of vacancies |
2020 | 10080 | 5146 | 15226 |
2021 | 15871 | 9511 | 25382 |
2022 | 16047 | 9851 | 25898 |
2023 | 13909 | 9576 | 23485 |
Total | 55907 | 34084 | 89991 |
The Government Recruitment Service does not hold any data on why candidates are not successful. However, there could be a range of reasons for non-appointment. All candidates will have been sifted or interviewed out of the recruiting process.
Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many civil servants in her Department have a criminal conviction.
Answered by Nusrat Ghani - Minister of State (Minister for Europe)
DBT do not centrally hold data on employees with criminal convictions. This information will be captured and considered at application stage by the Government Recruitment Service through the BPSS checks. In line with wider Civil Service guidance, the Department does encourage applications from those with prior convictions via our recruitment campaigns on Civil Service Jobs. The department also supports the Going Forwards into Employment, Prison Leaver scheme which is an exception to the Civil Service Commission Recruitment Principles.
Asked by: John Redwood (Conservative - Wokingham)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether there are controls on external recruitment of (a) new and (b) replacement (i) civil servants and (ii) other public sector administrators.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
There are specific statutory provisions in place that control all appointments to new and replacement Civil Service roles arising from external recruitment.
The Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010 requires that selection to the Civil Service must be on merit, on the basis of fair and open competition. The Civil Service Commission has a statutory duty to ensure that the merit requirement is upheld and is not being undermined. The Commission’s interpretation of this statutory requirement is outlined to Civil Service departments in the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles 2018.
The Aliens’ Employment Act 1955 outlines the eligibility for employment in the Civil Service on the grounds of nationality. The Cabinet Office has published the Civil Service Nationality Rules on Gov.uk to support departments in the interpretation of this statutory requirement.
The Civil Service Management Code delegates authority to individual departments to determine their recruitment approach within the scope of these statutory requirements. Additional policy provisions can be applied such as the Civil Service Recruitment Framework. Since January 2016, the Framework has been committed to opening up all Senior Civil Service (SCS) vacancies by advertising them externally to the public by default. In May 2022, this commitment was strengthened, requiring departments to obtain approval from the responsible minister when seeking to limit an SCS vacancy to existing civil servants only.
For other public administrators outside of the Civil Service, it would be down to their respective organisations to comment on whether they have such controls in place.
Asked by: Martyn Day (Scottish National Party - Linlithgow and East Falkirk)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of reinstating former civil servants on public finances.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Individual departments are responsible for the recruitment of their staff and are able to set their own policies accordingly, subject to the framework of instructions set out in the Civil Service Management Code and the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. This includes the reinstatement of former civil servants under exception five of the Recruitment Principles.