Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to help ensure that people who are not online have the choice of accessing public services (a) by phone, (b) by letter and (c) face-to-face.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
Government departments are already required by the Government's Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services. The wider public sector, including local government, is also encouraged to use the service standard, with some Local Authorities having committed to doing so via the Local Digital Declaration.
Government teams are assessed against Service Standard to ensure that services are accessible to all users, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet.
Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it her policy to introduce funding for public bodies to ensure that they are able to provide offline options for all service users.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
Government departments are already required by the Government's Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services. The wider public sector, including local government, is also encouraged to use the service standard, with some Local Authorities having committed to doing so via the Local Digital Declaration.
Government teams are assessed against Service Standard to ensure that services are accessible to all users, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet.
Asked by: Kirsten Oswald (Scottish National Party - East Renfrewshire)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make it his policy to introduce funding for public bodies to help ensure the provision of offline options for service users.
Answered by Alex Burghart - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Government is committed to ensuring that everyone has affordable access to public services, whether online or offline.
Government departments are already required by the Government's Service Standard to provide support via alternative channels for all their online services. The wider public sector, including local government, is also encouraged to use the service standard, with some Local Authorities having committed to doing so via the Local Digital Declaration.
Government teams are assessed against Service Standard to ensure that services are accessible to all users, including disabled people, people with other legally protected characteristics, people who do not have access to the internet and/or lack the skills and/or confidence to use the internet.
Asked by: Seema Malhotra (Labour (Co-op) - Feltham and Heston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, what steps she is taking to encourage women and girls' involvement in artificial intelligence.
Answered by Saqib Bhatti - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Government is committed to helping diversify the whole ecosystem and empower diverse, brilliant people right across the UK.
That’s why the government invested £30 million into the AI and Data Science Conversion Course program, which was established to broaden the supply of talent in the UK AI labour market. We are already seeing the positive impact the programme is having: it is increasing the diversity of the student cohort and successfully converting non-STEM students to enter the AI labour market. So far, 73% of scholarships were awarded to women.
Digital skills are fundamental to ensuring everyone can make the most of a digital future. As the department that leads on digital skills, we are focusing on broadening and deepening the pool of talent. The Digital Skills Council convenes stakeholders from across the sector to deliver industry led action on driving the growth of the digital workforce, including widening the skills pipelines, and ensuring tech roles are accessible for all. One of the council’s objectives is to promote mechanisms to provide increasingly diverse access to digital roles and digitally enabled roles.
Additionally, since 2017, we have supported the Tech Talent Charter (TTC), a not-for-profit organisation providing research, insights and a practical toolkit to promote diversity in the tech companies. They bring together over 700 signatory organisations, across 42 industry sectors, representing 160,000 people, equipping them with the networks and resources to drive their diversity efforts.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she is taking steps to help establish partnerships with (a) private sector and (b) academic institutions to increase skills training in the creative industries.
Answered by Julia Lopez - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
The Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out the Government’s ambition to maximise the potential of the creative industries. It details our plans to grow these industries by an extra £50bn and create a million extra jobs by 2030, and build a pipeline of talent and opportunity for young people through a Creative Careers Promise.
The Creative Industries Sector Vision sets out a range of interventions across education, skills and job quality to achieve this, working in partnership with the creative sector and those involved in education and training. The forthcoming joint Department for Education and Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Cultural Education Plan will support the provision of high quality cultural education for all school-age children, including careers advice and skills development. This will provide young people with a window into the sector, and access to important foundational skills.
Strengthening talent pipelines for young people is also a priority. This will be delivered through our Creative Careers Programme,, two new creative T-Levels rolling out in September 2024, and multiple national and regional opportunities to participate in apprenticeships and digital and creative Skills Bootcamps. Many of these initiatives are delivered in partnership with the private sector and academic institutions such as Netflix, the BBC and University of Birmingham.
These interventions complement the investment the sector is already making on skills. For example, the BFI’s £9 million National Lottery funded ‘Skills Clusters’ which will support skills development and training across the UK; ScreenSkills’ £19 million Future Film Skills Programme which has helped over 119,000 people progress in screen careers since 2018; and the work of the world-leading National Film and Television School, which received funding from DCMS.
Asked by: Lord Lipsey (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have for ensuring that setting up a Government Gateway account is more straightforward and accessible.
Answered by Baroness Vere of Norbiton - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
A simple Government Gateway account can be created with only an email address. The customer is provided with a unique username (Government Gateway ID) and is asked to create a password. This account will not have identity checks associated to it, so can only be used to access Government services which do not require identity checking. Where a customer needs to access services requiring identity checking, additional Identity Verification steps are provided by Government Gateway, based on the identity information the customer has available to them. It is recognised that this can be difficult for some customers, particularly those with limited digital skills or limited documented identity sources.
All Government Gateway Services follow accessibility rules and guidelines, when building, improving, or changing our systems. As well as completing user research and user testing to understand the impact to our customers. This testing is completed with a wide range of different users to understand the impact on our customers.
A Disability Impact Assessment is always completed, working with our accessibility partners to ensure that all accessibility needs are considered in anything we do.
From Spring 2024 onwards, HMRC will begin to migrate new and some existing Government Gateway customers to GOV.UK One Login. This is the Governments new strategic authentication and identity checking system, operated by the Government Digital Service in Cabinet Office, which is making it easier and faster for users to prove and reuse their identity to access the government services they need. Improving accessibility is at the heart of GOV.UK One Login; it offers multiple ways for people to prove who they are, including an in-person option, and a customer support centre to help users with lower digital skills
Initially, only a small number of users will be able to access HMRC services through GOV.UK One Login, with volumes building over time. This measured approach is designed to ensure a high quality experience for users as we expand its roll out.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she plans to take to expand digital literacy programs in (a) rural and (b) remote areas.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Digital and computing skills are critical to achieving the department’s science and technology superpower ambitions, which were set out in the UK Science & Technology Framework in March 2023. Programmers, data scientists, and software engineers will help deliver the department’s ambitions for critical technologies like artificial intelligence, but their importance is not limited to these technologies. These roles are fundamental across the labour market, with 60% of businesses believing their reliance on advanced digital skills will increase over the next five years.
The importance of digital skills goes far beyond supporting specific growth industries. They are increasingly a foundation for the economy and society, as essential to employability and participation in society as English and mathematics. That is why the department has developed an ambitious skills agenda, backed by an additional £3.8 billion in further education and skills over the lifetime of this Parliament.
The department’s essential digital skills offer plays an important role in both the wider department digital offer, which will equip people with the right digital skills to progress into rewarding careers or higher-level technical study, and the department’s wider support for the government’s new Digital Strategy, led out of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which sets out the vision for harnessing digital transformation, accelerating growth, and building a more inclusive, competitive and innovative digital economy for the future.
Through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), the department has introduced a new legal entitlement in August 2020 to fully fund adults (19+) with low digital skills to undertake an Essential Digital Skills Qualification, up to Level 1. The department has further enhanced the offer by introducing Digital Functional Skills qualifications in August 2023. These qualifications were developed against employer supported National Standards and provide learners with the essential digital skills they need to participate actively in life, work and society.
The department has also taken steps to embed essential digital skills training as part of study programmes for 16–19-year-olds. Where students are identified as having low levels of digital skills, education providers integrate essential digital skills development, where it is needed, into their learning programme.
Formal qualifications are not appropriate for everyone, which is why the department also funds community learning and other non-regulated learning, such as building confidence in essential digital skills, through the AEB. Many local authorities and other further education providers are already delivering these courses that help equip adults with the essential digital skills they need for work, life and further learning.
The department is investing in employer-led technical skills and education, with courses and training in digital subjects often at the forefront of our reforms, from digital literacy to skills for advanced digital roles. These are key in expanding our offer and providing alternative routes, as the department is aware that the traditional route does not suit everyone or every community. For example:
Through the skills reforms, the department is continuing to ensure learners are supported, including those who need the most support, to train, retrain and upskill so they can climb the ladder of opportunity towards better jobs, better wellbeing and better options for the future.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help improve digital skills in underrepresented communities.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Digital and computing skills are critical to achieving the department’s science and technology superpower ambitions, which were set out in the UK Science & Technology Framework in March 2023. Programmers, data scientists, and software engineers will help deliver the department’s ambitions for critical technologies like artificial intelligence, but their importance is not limited to these technologies. These roles are fundamental across the labour market, with 60% of businesses believing their reliance on advanced digital skills will increase over the next five years.
The importance of digital skills goes far beyond supporting specific growth industries. They are increasingly a foundation for the economy and society, as essential to employability and participation in society as English and mathematics. That is why the department has developed an ambitious skills agenda, backed by an additional £3.8 billion in further education and skills over the lifetime of this Parliament.
The department’s essential digital skills offer plays an important role in both the wider department digital offer, which will equip people with the right digital skills to progress into rewarding careers or higher-level technical study, and the department’s wider support for the government’s new Digital Strategy, led out of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which sets out the vision for harnessing digital transformation, accelerating growth, and building a more inclusive, competitive and innovative digital economy for the future.
Through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), the department has introduced a new legal entitlement in August 2020 to fully fund adults (19+) with low digital skills to undertake an Essential Digital Skills Qualification, up to Level 1. The department has further enhanced the offer by introducing Digital Functional Skills qualifications in August 2023. These qualifications were developed against employer supported National Standards and provide learners with the essential digital skills they need to participate actively in life, work and society.
The department has also taken steps to embed essential digital skills training as part of study programmes for 16–19-year-olds. Where students are identified as having low levels of digital skills, education providers integrate essential digital skills development, where it is needed, into their learning programme.
Formal qualifications are not appropriate for everyone, which is why the department also funds community learning and other non-regulated learning, such as building confidence in essential digital skills, through the AEB. Many local authorities and other further education providers are already delivering these courses that help equip adults with the essential digital skills they need for work, life and further learning.
The department is investing in employer-led technical skills and education, with courses and training in digital subjects often at the forefront of our reforms, from digital literacy to skills for advanced digital roles. These are key in expanding our offer and providing alternative routes, as the department is aware that the traditional route does not suit everyone or every community. For example:
Through the skills reforms, the department is continuing to ensure learners are supported, including those who need the most support, to train, retrain and upskill so they can climb the ladder of opportunity towards better jobs, better wellbeing and better options for the future.
Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the effectiveness of digital skills training initiatives in bridging skills gaps in the technology sector.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Digital and computing skills are critical to achieving the department’s science and technology superpower ambitions, which were set out in the UK Science & Technology Framework in March 2023. Programmers, data scientists, and software engineers will help deliver the department’s ambitions for critical technologies like artificial intelligence, but their importance is not limited to these technologies. These roles are fundamental across the labour market, with 60% of businesses believing their reliance on advanced digital skills will increase over the next five years.
The importance of digital skills goes far beyond supporting specific growth industries. They are increasingly a foundation for the economy and society, as essential to employability and participation in society as English and mathematics. That is why the department has developed an ambitious skills agenda, backed by an additional £3.8 billion in further education and skills over the lifetime of this Parliament.
The department’s essential digital skills offer plays an important role in both the wider department digital offer, which will equip people with the right digital skills to progress into rewarding careers or higher-level technical study, and the department’s wider support for the government’s new Digital Strategy, led out of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, which sets out the vision for harnessing digital transformation, accelerating growth, and building a more inclusive, competitive and innovative digital economy for the future.
Through the Adult Education Budget (AEB), the department has introduced a new legal entitlement in August 2020 to fully fund adults (19+) with low digital skills to undertake an Essential Digital Skills Qualification, up to Level 1. The department has further enhanced the offer by introducing Digital Functional Skills qualifications in August 2023. These qualifications were developed against employer supported National Standards and provide learners with the essential digital skills they need to participate actively in life, work and society.
The department has also taken steps to embed essential digital skills training as part of study programmes for 16–19-year-olds. Where students are identified as having low levels of digital skills, education providers integrate essential digital skills development, where it is needed, into their learning programme.
Formal qualifications are not appropriate for everyone, which is why the department also funds community learning and other non-regulated learning, such as building confidence in essential digital skills, through the AEB. Many local authorities and other further education providers are already delivering these courses that help equip adults with the essential digital skills they need for work, life and further learning.
The department is investing in employer-led technical skills and education, with courses and training in digital subjects often at the forefront of our reforms, from digital literacy to skills for advanced digital roles. These are key in expanding our offer and providing alternative routes, as the department is aware that the traditional route does not suit everyone or every community. For example:
Through the skills reforms, the department is continuing to ensure learners are supported, including those who need the most support, to train, retrain and upskill so they can climb the ladder of opportunity towards better jobs, better wellbeing and better options for the future.
Asked by: Christine Jardine (Liberal Democrat - Edinburgh West)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will make an estimate of the total number staff days lost to long term sick absences in each Department in each year since 2021.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
Cabinet Office publishes sickness absence data for the Civil Service on an annual basis on gov.uk. Our preferred measure is Average Working Days Lost (AWDL) per staff year which accounts for workforce size and composition. The table below provides the data requested, days lost per department, along with AWDL for context. Data for 2023 are in production for planned publication by end March 2024.
Table: Long Term Sickness Absence by Department 2021 and 2022
Organisation | 2021 | 2022 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Days | AWDL | Days | AWDL | |
Attorney General's Departments | 5,250 | 2.2 | 7,190 | 2.9 |
Crown Prosecution Service | 18,530 | 3.1 | 23,570 | 3.7 |
Serious Fraud Office | 830 | 1.8 | 940 | 2.0 |
Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | 34,010 | 2.1 | 47,160 | 2.5 |
Cabinet Office | 13,090 | 1.4 | 20,750 | 1.9 |
National Savings and Investments | 370 | 1.9 | 170 | 0.9 |
Charity Commission | 1,300 | 2.7 | s | s |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 6,850 | 2.0 | 7,670 | 2.0 |
Competition and Markets Authority | 1,100 | 1.4 | 870 | 1.0 |
Department for Digital, Culture Media and Sport | 2,670 | 1.3 | 4,110 | 1.4 |
Ministry of Defence | 219,380 | 4.1 | 149,690 | 2.8 |
Department for International Trade | 3,960 | 0.8 | 6,820 | 1.3 |
Department for Education | 9,580 | 1.3 | 20,410 | 2.6 |
Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs | 19,210 | 1.9 | 27,070 | 2.4 |
ESTYN | 410 | 3.9 | 320 | 3.1 |
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office | 16,750 | 1.9 | 18,830 | 2.3 |
Food Standards Agency | 3,850 | 2.9 | 4,500 | 3.4 |
The Health and Safety Executive | 7,440 | 3.2 | 10,520 | 4.2 |
Department of Health and Social Care | 20,880 | 2.2 | 27,770 | 2.6 |
HM Revenue and Customs | 189,360 | 3.2 | 243,040 | 3.9 |
HM Treasury | 2,770 | 1.1 | 3,990 | 1.5 |
Home Office | 109,360 | 3.4 | 148,080 | 4.5 |
Ministry of Justice | 435,690 | 6.0 | 596,420 | 7.4 |
National Crime Agency | 10,640 | 2.1 | 15,180 | 3.3 |
Northern Ireland Office | 140 | 0.9 | 420 | 2.4 |
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services & Skills | 6,530 | 3.6 | 9,270 | 5.3 |
Office of Gas and Electricity Markets | 2,260 | 2.1 | 2,650 | 2.1 |
Office of Rail and Road | 590 | 1.9 | 290 | 0.9 |
Scotland Office (incl. Office Advocate General for Scotland) | 320 | 2.8 | 490 | 4.2 |
Scottish Government | 111,300 | 5.4 | 134,510 | 5.9 |
Department for Transport | 51,950 | 3.6 | 71,260 | 4.9 |
United Kingdom Statistics Authority | 9,250 | 2.4 | 10,070 | 2.2 |
UK Export Finance | 250 | 0.7 | 340 | 0.8 |
UK Supreme Court | * | * | 280 | 5.2 |
Wales Office | 230 | 4.4 | 190 | 4.1 |
Water Services Regulation Authority | 570 | 2.4 | 250 | 1.0 |
Welsh Government | 14,590 | 2.8 | 20,110 | 3.7 |
Department for Work and Pensions | 243,230 | 3.3 | 383,320 | 4.5 |
Notes:
Annual Data for year ending 31 March 2021 and 31 March 2022
Source – Management Information
Days rounded to nearest 10 days, AWDL rounded to 1 decimal place
s = suppressed due to data review, * = suppressed due to low counts
For sickness absence publications see https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence