Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference the 1,985 total headcount figure for permanent civil servants excluding agency workers working for his Department as of 31 March 2023, as detailed in Cabinet Office statistics entitled Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, what that figure was on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The headcount for HM Treasury as at the 31st March 2011, 31st March 2016, and 31st March 2020 can be found in the following ONS online locations.
- 31 March 2011- ONS Archives: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20150905000144mp_/http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/q1-2011/stb-q1-2011.pdf
- 31 March 2016 – ONS Archives:- https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable/march2016/psereferencetablesmarch2016.xls
- 31 March 2020 – ONS Archives: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable/march2020/datasets.xlsx
On 2 October 2023, The Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.
The Civil Service grew in size to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal war in the Ukraine but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference the 67,705 total headcount figure for permanent civil servants excluding agency workers working for HMRC as of 31 March 2023, as detailed in Cabinet Office statistics entitled Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, what that figure was on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
On 2 October 2023, The Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.
The Civil Service grew in size to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal war in the Ukraine but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies
In answer to your question please refer to the information within the following links: - ·
Asked by: Lord Stevenson of Balmacara (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote greater awareness of cyberthreats among (1) the civil service, (2) public sector workers, and (3) the general public.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Government Cyber Security Strategy, published in January 2022, sets out how we will build and maintain our cyber defences - by building greater cyber resilience across all government organisations and working together to ‘defend as one’ which enables a greater defensive force. A key component of the strategy is that the civil service and the public sector at large will have sufficient cyber security knowledge and awareness to identify and respond to cyber threats. In central government this work is being led by the Security, Education and Awareness Centre which promotes awareness of all security issues, including cyber threat, across government.
The National Cyber Security Centre’s Cyber Aware campaign is encouraging the public to take the necessary steps to improve their online security. The campaign sets out the six behaviours they can adopt to stay safe. These range from creating stronger passwords using three random words to turning on two-step verification.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what data his Department holds on the average pay increase for (a) civil servants and (b) other public sector workers who were (i) prohibited and (ii) not prohibited from striking in each of the last five years.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Pay for civil servants below the Senior Civil Service is delegated to individual departments and the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance sets the framework for departments to set pay. The Cabinet Office does not hold complete data on the average pay increases in Departments for civil servants nor for public sector workers covered by the pay remit guidance. No staff covered under the pay remit guidance are prohibited from striking.
The Cabinet Office publishes summary figures on salaries across the Civil Service as part of the Civil Service Statistics publications. Median salaries by grade and department in the last five years can be found in the Civil Service Statistics publication: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics.
These figures are the overall values, and may not represent the changes for individual civil servants.
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of the recent civil service and public sector pay freeze on the disposable income and wellbeing of civil service and public sector workers.
Answered by Simon Clarke
The Government recognises that public sector workers play a vital role in the running of our economy, and in delivering our world class public services.
In the face of huge uncertainty and the unprecedented impact COVID-19 had on the economy, the Government took the difficult decision to temporarily pause pay rises for the majority of public sector workers at Spending Review 2020.
This helped protect jobs at a time of crisis and ensure fairness between the private and public sectors as the private sector saw suppressed earnings growth and increased redundancies.
The Government also protected the lowest paid, with 2.1 million public sector workers earning less than £24,000 (Full Time Equivalent) receiving a minimum £250 increase. Due to the uniquely challenging impact COVID-19 had on our health services, the Government also provided a 3% pay award to over 1 million NHS staff.
On average, those working in the public sector have a better remuneration package than those in the private sector, including substantially more generous pensions. COVID-19 has also demonstrated the significant value of job security in the public sector. The temporary freeze meant the gap between the public and private sector did not widen further.
Spending Review 2021 confirmed that all public sector workers will see pay rises across the whole Spending Review period (22/23-24/25).
Asked by: Fleur Anderson (Labour - Putney)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what assessment his Department has made of the impact of recent civil service pay freezes on employee recruitment and retention.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Recruitment and retention data covering the period of the public sector pay pause is not currently held. In 2020/21, Civil Service turnover (includes all moves out of the Civil Service) was 5.9%.
In light of the pay pause, which was necessary in order to help protect public sector jobs and protect investment in public services, the Government ensured that the lowest paid across all of the public sector were protected. Anyone below a full time equivalent salary of £24,000 received an uplift of £250 or the new National Living Wage rate, whichever was greater. This was c.128,000 civil servants around the time the pay pause was announced in November 2020.
As the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced on October 27th 2021, the temporary public sector pay pause will be lifted. Pay awards will be made to public sector workers over the next three years as we return to a normal pay-setting process. It is for departments to monitor and consider their recruitment and retention challenges when determining future pay awards.
Asked by: Barry Sheerman (Labour (Co-op) - Huddersfield)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what steps he is taking to ensure that (a) companies pay their employees the minimum wage and that (b) police forces are able to enforce related legal standards.
Answered by Lucy Frazer - Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
The Government is determined that everyone who is entitled to the National Minimum Wage (NMW) receives it. HMRC enforce the NMW and the National Living Wage (NLW) on behalf of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
All businesses, irrespective of size or business sector, are responsible for paying the correct minimum wage to their staff, and HMRC won’t hesitate to take action to ensure that workers receive what they are legally entitled to and continue to crack down on employers who ignore the law. Since 2015 HMRC has secured over £115 million for more than 1.1 million workers.
HMRC considers all complaints from workers. If anyone thinks they are not receiving at least the minimum wage, they can contact Acas, in confidence, on: 0300 123 1100, or report their employer online here: www.gov.uk/minimum-wage-complaint.
Consequences for not complying with paying NMW can include fines of 200 per cent of the arrears, public naming and, for the most serious offences, criminal prosecution.
As well as investigating worker complaints HMRC also undertake proactive investigations (referred to as targeted enforcement) based on the identification of the risk of non-compliance with NMW legislation.
In addition to enforcement, HMRC also deliver a programme of education and upstream ‘Promote’ work designed to help businesses understand their obligations and encourage them to comply. This involves a range of activities to increase both employers’ and workers’ understanding of NMW rules including one-to-many letters, webinars, podcasts, and media campaigns.
Breaches of NMW legislation are normally a civil matter, but HMRC will refer the most serious cases to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) where HMRC identify an offence under Section 31 of the National Minimum Wage Act 1998 involving obstruction, falsifying of documents, or wilful failure to pay workers the minimum wage.
HMRC may also refer NMW offences to the CPS for prosecution that form part of a pattern of suspected or potential criminality, for example, suspected tax fraud, or wider offences such as employing illegal workers.
However, prosecutions can cause delays in recovering arrears for workers and do not necessarily guarantee payment, and consequently, prosecution is reserved for the most serious non-compliance and is not necessarily the right approach in most cases.
HMRC continues to work with other agencies, including the police, on joint operations to tackle NMW underpayment, and other labour market risks, such as illegal working and modern slavery, for which those agencies are responsible.
Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)
Question to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, how many (a) civil servants, (b) public servants in UK Shared Business Services and (c) private sector workers in Shared Services Connected Ltd work on shared services within the shared service matrix cluster.
Answered by George Freeman
The Matrix shared service cluster was introduced as part of the Government Business Services “Shared Services Strategy for Government” in March 2021. A programme team has been put in place to develop a business case and secure a budget for the implementation of the shared service centre for the cluster.
The current number of civil servants that work directly on transactional shared services is c.80.
UK Shared Business Services provide shared services, including to BEIS and DIT. The number of public servants in UK Shared Business Services is c.640.
Asked by: Baroness Altmann (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Her Majesty's Government (1) what rate of interest is applied to refunds of public sector workers’ partner pension contributions if the pension holder retires without a partner, and (2) how much money has been refunded to such pension holders for each of the past ten years.
Answered by Lord Agnew of Oulton
Partner pension contributions are refunded with interest to members of the Classic section of the PCSPS when they leave at or after age 60 with immediate payment of pension in full if they neither married nor entered a civil partnership throughout their service, or in part for members who have been married or in a civil partnership for part of their service. The interest rate applied is currently 0.25%.
Partner pension contributions can also be refunded in the 1981 Judicial Pension Scheme and the Judicial Pension Scheme 1993 (JUPRA). The interest rate applied in the 1981 Judicial Pension Scheme is 4% while the interest rates used in JUPRA follow those in the PCSPS.
Data on refunds in the PCSPS in the years from 2015 to 2021 (year to date) is as follows:
Year | Total paid as WPS refund |
2015 | £26,939,123.32 |
2016 | £30,835,627.79 |
2017 | £26,790,088.99 |
2018 | £25,628,031.08 |
2019 | £25,314,289.97 |
2020 | £20,698,765.32 |
2021 | £19,692,619.50 |
Refunds in years prior to 2015 occurred under a previous administrative arrangement and so data could only be collected to a longer timeline.
Similarly, administrators for the judicial pension schemes do not keep cumulative records of refunds awarded by year, and the second part of the question could thus only be answered to a longer timeline.
Asked by: Alison McGovern (Labour - Wirral South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will publish (a) a full list of organisations covered by the public sector pay pause and (b) the criteria used to determine which organisations should be covered by that pay pause.
Answered by Steve Barclay - Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
The public sector pay pause announced at the Spending Review 2020 covers most of the major public sector workforces; Police, Prison officers, School-teachers, Armed forces, National Crime Agency, Senior Civil Service, Civil Service and Judiciary.
Given the unique impact of Covid-19 on the health service, and despite the challenging economic context, the government will continue to provide for pay rises for over 1 million NHS workers. The government will also prioritise the lowest paid, with 2.1 million public sector workers earning less than £24,000 receiving a minimum £250 increase.
In order to ensure fairness and consistency of approach, HM Treasury
expects other public sector employers not covered by the Pay Review Body process or the Civil Service Pay Remit Guidance, including public corporations and other employers where there is less central oversight of annual pay awards, to respect and comply with the pay pause. Departments and employers should consult the Office for National Statistics classification guidance to confirm whether they are classified as within the public sector.
Pay for Local Government workers and Devolved Administrations is set independently of Central Government and therefore the pause will not directly apply.