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Written Question
Armed Forces' Pay Review Body: Public Appointments
Tuesday 28th February 2023

Asked by: John Healey (Labour - Wentworth and Dearne)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether the Minister responsible for appointing Members of the Armed Forces Pay Review Body is required to appoint the candidates recommended by the Assessment Panel.

Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

All appointments to the Armed Forces Pay Review Body are conducted in accordance with the 2016 Public Appointments Governance Code and are regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. Paragraph 3.2 of the Code states that: "Ministers should consider the advice of Advisory Assessment Panels but are not bound by their views. Ministers may therefore reject a panel’s advice on the merit of candidates and choose to re-run a competition with a new panel. Ministers may choose to appoint someone who is not deemed “appointable” by the Advisory Assessment Panel. In this case, they must consult the Commissioner for Public Appointments in good time before a public announcement and will be required to justify their decision publicly."

We are finalising the appointment of one member and currently holding a vacancy for a public sector member. For the Business member recruitment campaign, seventeen applications were received with six applicants invited to interview (one candidate withdrew before being interviewed). For the Public Sector member recruitment campaign, twenty-three applications were received with six applicants invited to interview.


Written Question
NHS: Staff
Wednesday 15th February 2023

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps the Government is taking to encourage young adults to work for the NHS.

Answered by Will Quince

The National Health Service has launched its fifth consecutive national recruitment campaign ‘We are the NHS’ to inspire people to consider a career in healthcare and increase applications for healthcare courses. Healthcare students are able to apply for a range of financial support to help them through their studies. For example, eligible nursing, midwifery and allied health professional students can access a non-repayable training grant of at least £5,000 per academic year.

The Government continues to widen access to NHS careers through blended learning and apprenticeship routes, including the recently announced Medical Doctor Apprenticeship.

There were around 20,900 new NHS apprenticeships starts in 2021/22, this makes the NHS the largest employer of apprentices in the public sector by number of starts.


Written Question
NHS: Pay Settlements
Monday 13th February 2023

Asked by: Rachael Maskell (Labour (Co-op) - York Central)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of his policy on pay negotiations for NHS staff on the morale of those staff.

Answered by Will Quince

The Government highly values and appreciates all our National Health Service staff.

The independent pay review body (PRB) process is the established mechanism for determining pay uplifts in the public sector, including for staff working in the NHS.

The PRBs are made up of industry experts who carefully consider evidence submitted to them from a range of stakeholders, including government and trade unions. They base their recommendations on several factors including the economic context, cost of living, recruitment and retention, morale, and motivation of NHS staff.


Written Question
Teachers: Ethnic Groups
Thursday 2nd February 2023

Asked by: Andrew Western (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of offering guaranteed interviews to black, Asian and minority ethnic applicants with relevant qualifications who apply for teaching positions.

Answered by Nick Gibb

The Department wants teaching to be profession where teachers from all backgrounds are supported throughout their career.

Schools are responsible for their own recruitment and staffing decisions. The Department expects them to adhere to their statutory requirements under the Equality Act 2010, and to their responsibilities under the Public Sector Equality Duty. The Department has published guidance for schools on how to comply with their duties under the Equality Act 2010. This is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/equality-act-2010-advice-for-schools.

Schools and trusts are free to introduce measures into their recruitment processes if those measures comply with the Equality Act 2010.

The Department has also issued guidance for recruiting head teachers, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/recruiting-a-headteacher. The guidance reminds governors and trustees that diverse workforces benefit everyone, and the importance of avoiding discrimination in recruitment.


Written Question
Home Office: Equality
Monday 30th January 2023

Asked by: Chris Stephens (Scottish National Party - Glasgow South West)

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to ensure her Department complies with section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code; and whether that monitoring data gathered is shared with union representatives.

Answered by Chris Philp - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Civil Service has made good progress in recent years in diversifying its workforce. The percentage of civil servants from an ethnic minority background is at 15.0% and the percentage of those who declare themselves disabled is at 14.0%. Staff who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or other (LGBO) is 6.1% and the proportion of female civil servants stands at 54.5%. These rates are all at their highest recorded levels. However, we know there is more to be achieved to ensure we are representative of the citizens we serve across all our grades.

The new Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2022-2025 recognises our success and builds on this good work to encourage a broader range of people into the Civil Service to give depth to our understanding of contemporary society in the United Kingdom. It provides the necessary framing for diversity and inclusion activity in the Civil Service as part of our wider workforce strategy, and through that, how the Civil Service delivers for its people, the government and our citizens.

A link to the Civil Service statistics can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/civil-service-statistics

The Home Office undertakes the collation of diversity data of our workforce, which includes age, gender, ethnic origin, disability, and (in Northern Ireland) community background of staff and applicants as set out in para 2.1.6 in the civil service management code. This data is used to undertake monitoring and analysis of recruitment, career development including progression, resignations, personal review, salary, performance pay, and access to opportunities for training and personal development. This data is also used to ensure the department discharges its public sector equality duties under s.149 the Equality Act 2010; data is used to routinely inform equality impact assessments where appropriate to effectively consider the different impacts of policies, processes and services across the workforce.

The Home Office also captures data on the professions and job roles which our people undertake. This allows us to understand and monitor the diversity of our workforce in professions and business areas. The Home Office publishes its workforce data annually on GOV.UK

The Home Office is fully committed to the provision of diversity data to its recognised trade unions with available information supplied on a regular basis. However, it should be noted that section 2.1.6 of the Civil Service Management Code (CSMC) does not place an obligation on the department to share the information collected on staff and applicants with their representative trade unions.

Detailed information on the Civil Service workforce is collected and published centrally as part of the Annual Civil Service Employment Statistics.


Written Question
Prison Officers: Recruitment
Wednesday 25th January 2023

Asked by: Steve Reed (Labour (Co-op) - Croydon North)

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many applications were received for a band 3-5 prison officer position in each year since 2010.

Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)

Table: Number of applications to Prison Officer roles, by year application submitted.

Submission Year

Total

2017

103690

2018

101076

2019

65501

2020

83913

2021

78339

2022

97887

Notes:

1. Data were extracted from the Oleeo recruitment system. Oleeo is a live system so records are subject to change.

2. The figures used here are based on applications submitted between 01 April 2017 and 30 November 2022 inclusive, as of 2 December 2022.

3. Data was only collected on Oleeo from 1 April 2017 and so data is not available for earlier dates.

4. Data for 2022 is incomplete and is only available up to and including 30 November 2022.

5. Data provided show the number of applications rather than the number of applicants since Oleeo data is at the application level.

6. Figures included in our response only cover data available in our Oleeo system, so any recruitment that is not entirely processed on Oleeo will be incomplete.

7. The majority of prison officer recruitment is at Band 3 and is external to the civil service.

8. The majority of Band 4 and Band 5 recruitment is internal to the Civil Service. These figures include internal progression to Band 4 and 5 roles.

9. These figures include applications to the "Unlocked Graduate Scheme", and to Operational Support Grade to Prison Officer / Youth Justice Worker fast track campaigns.

10. Figures do not include recruitment campaigns managed by external companies.

11. This data only includes recruitment for Public Sector Prisons (PSP).

12. Youth Justice Worker applications are included in the count of Prison Officer applications.

13. During the pandemic in 2021, we rapidly re-entered the market with an accelerated recruitment campaign to increase joiners, capitalising on a buoyant marketplace. However, as industries began to reopen, and competition in the marketplace significantly increased, our application volumes began to fall.


Written Question
Education: Industrial Disputes
Tuesday 24th January 2023

Asked by: Julian Sturdy (Conservative - York Outer)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of industrial action in the education sector on the academic performance of students in this academic year.

Answered by Nick Gibb

Industrial action is not in the best interest of pupils, and the Department is concerned by action that disrupts teaching, particularly following disruption from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The starting salary for a newly qualified teacher is at least £28,000 and this is set to rise to £30,000. In Inner London the starting salary is more; at least £34,500. Teachers receive annual pay rises through an independent pay review process, and many teachers also see greater uplifts by progressing up the pay scales.

Most teachers in the first few years of their career will receive pay rises from progression on top of the headline award, which could mean an increase of up to 15.9% this year, and around 40% of experienced teachers below the top of their pay range will also receive pay increases through progression or promotion, on top of the 5% pay award. In addition, teachers’ pensions include a 23.6% employer pension contribution.

The Department is meeting unions regularly to listen to their concerns and work to avert strike action. If strikes do go ahead there will undoubtably be impacts on the delivery of education and the Department has a duty to help parents and families understand how this will affect them. In the event of strike action at a school, the school leaders or local authority that manages the school will take all reasonable steps to keep the school open for as many pupils as possible. In some schools there may be little or no impact from strike action but in others it may mean that changes are made to the way they operate. Parents can find more information on strike actions in schools in the Department’s Education Hub blog: https://educationhub.blog.gov.uk/2023/01/16/everything-you-need-to-know-about-strike-action-in-schools-and-colleges/.

The Department has updated the ‘handling strike action in schools’ guidance, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/handling-strike-action-in-schools.

Schools should prioritise vulnerable children, children of critical workers and pupils due to take public examinations and other formal assessments, if there is a need to restrict attendance. The use of remote education where provision in school can’t be delivered is also advised.

For further education (FE), colleges are responsible for setting the pay of their teaching and support staff. The Department is increasing the level of overall funding in colleges, so that they can recruit, retain and develop staff. An extra £1.6 billion is available for 16-19 education in the 2024/25 financial year compared with 2021/22. This is in addition to the £291 million for 16-19 education in 2021/22, and the £400 million that the Department provided in 2020/21. The Department is also funding a package of direct support for the further education workforce in 2022/23, to continue to support the colleges with the recruitment, retention and development of teachers.

Universities are autonomous and responsible for the pay and pension provision of their staff. While the Government plays no role in such disputes, the Department hopes all parties can reach an agreement that delivers good value for students, staff and the universities.

This Department believes that students should be at the heart of the higher education (HE) system. The Department set up the Office for Students (OfS) to regulate the HE sector in England, protect student rights and ensure the sector is delivering real value for money. The OfS expects institutions to do all they can to avoid disruption for students, and has also highlighted institutions’ obligations under consumer protection law in relation to the effects of industrial action.


Written Question
Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body
Monday 23rd January 2023

Asked by: Valerie Vaz (Labour - Walsall South)

Question

To ask the hon. Member for Broxbourne, representing the Restoration and Renewal Client Board, what the cost to the public purse was of transferring the functions of the external statutory Restoration and Renewal Sponsor Body to an in-house service, including replacing the Board.

Answered by Charles Walker

The Parliamentary Works Sponsor Body was abolished on 1 January 2023 and its staff transferred into a new joint department in Parliament, the Restoration and Renewal Client Team. Replacing the Sponsor Board will be two new Boards—the R&R Client Board, comprising the membership of the two House Commissions, and the R&R Programme Board, which is currently in the process of being established.

The costs of these changes thus far have been primarily absorbed within the existing budgets of the two Houses and the Sponsor Body.

The following items are costs that would not have been incurred had it not been for the transfer of functions:

  • The House Commissions sought advice and assurance about the proposed changes from a high-level panel of independent experts with significant experience in major programmes, in both the public and private sector. The work of the independent advice and assurance panel cost £57,557.

  • A recruitment company provided an executive search service to support the House of Commons with recruiting up to four external R&R Programme Board members. This included sourcing appropriate candidates, making initial contact with them, and supporting the House through the entire recruitment process. The cost was £67,000.

  • A contractor was employed to assist with programme management for the transition at a cost of £97,853 (including VAT).

Written Question
Childcare
Thursday 19th January 2023

Asked by: Dan Carden (Labour - Liverpool, Walton)

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the Institute for Public Policy Research report entitled Delivering a Childcare Guarantee, published on 6 December 2022, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of that report's recommendations.

Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero

The report “Delivering a Childcare Guarantee” makes several recommendations that cover sustainable funding for childcare and early education, the sufficiency of the number of childcare places on offer to parents, and our investment in the early years workforce. Getting this right is fundamentally important for parents and children, and we are looking at all options to improve the cost, flexibility and availability of childcare, and crucially, outcomes for children.

The department has spent over £3.5 billion in each of the past three years on early education entitlements to support families with the cost of childcare. At the Spending Review 2021, we announced additional funding for the early years entitlements of £160 million in 2022/23, £180 million in 2023/24 and £170 million in 2024/25, compared to the 2021/22 financial year. For 2023/24, we are investing an additional £20 million, on top of the additional £180 million already announced, to help support providers at a national level with additional costs associated with the national living wage.

The department is not currently planning to extend our free early education entitlements. We remain committed to supporting working parents through a range of childcare offers, including Universal Credit and Tax-Free Childcare, which are available to working parents of children from age 0.

The department is supporting parents to access the childcare they need through the ‘right to request’, which enables a parent to request that the school their child attends considers establishing wraparound and/or holiday childcare provision, if they are not already doing so. Schools must respond to these requests and should not refuse them without a reasonable justification. The government is also investing up to £30 million to continue our national school breakfast programme until July 2024, supporting up to 2,500 schools in disadvantaged areas. The programme offers free nutritious breakfasts to children from low-income families, to support their attainment, wellbeing, and readiness to learn.

Under Section 6 of the Childcare Act 2006, local authorities are responsible for ensuring that the provision of childcare is sufficient to meet the requirements of parents in their area. The department has regular contact with each local authority in England, and if a local authority raises concerns about sufficiency issues we will, of course, support it with any specific requirements. We are currently seeking to procure a contract that will provide support to local authorities who are seeking to improve their ability to fulfil their childcare sufficiency duties.

Finally, we recognise that workforce recruitment and retention are key issues for the early years sector. The majority of the sector is made up of private, voluntary and independent organisations who set their own rates of pay. However, we acknowledge the concerns raised by the sector regarding the perceived impact of salary rates. The department is working with the sector to build our understanding of the workforce situation, and how we might support providers in this area.

The government is already providing a package of training, qualifications, expert guidance, and targeted support for the early years sector to focus on the development of the youngest and most disadvantaged children and help to address existing recruitment and retention challenges. We are funding a range of programmes, including additional funding for graduate level specialist training which leads to early years teacher status and an accredited level 3 early years SENCO qualification.

Childminders are an important part of the early years workforce and the childcare market more widely, providing flexible, high-quality and affordable childcare that many parents both want and need. We have announced a set of measures to support childminders and boost their numbers. More information about this will be provided in due course.


Written Question
Agriculture: Civil Service Agencies
Tuesday 17th January 2023

Asked by: Lord Taylor of Warwick (Non-affiliated - Life peer)

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that agricultural expertise is represented in government agencies.

Answered by Lord Benyon - Minister of State (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

We recognise that knowledge of agricultural sectors and skills is important to support the sector effectively. We ensure this through the staff we recruit, the appointments we make and how we devise and deliver policy.

Through our reforms to farming policy we have involved over 3,000 farmers in so-called 'tests and trials' and have over 800 farmers helping us pilot the Sustainable Farming Incentive routinely feeding in their insights and experiences. We continue to step up our partnership with the farming community through our co-design groups, which draw on industry knowledge to recommend improvements to Defra schemes. Over 1,000 people in farming volunteered to take part, including beef, sheep and cereal farmers.

Public appointments are promoted to relevant sectors via our social media channels and through stakeholder engagement. Defra works closely with Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) to recruit Board Members with relevant skills and expertise. This has included specifically recruiting from the agriculture sector for the Boards of the Environment Agency; Natural England; Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board; Forestry Commission; and the National Park Authorities.

In accordance with the principles of the Partnerships between Departments and ALBs: Code of Good Practice, Defra has an agreed Framework Document with each of its key Executive Agencies setting out the broad framework in which they will operate. As part of such arrangements, the ALB is responsible for the recruitment, retention and motivation of its people ensuring they are encouraged to acquire the appropriate professional, management and other expertise to achieve their organisational objectives.

The Rural Payments Agency recognises the importance of agricultural expertise in the delivery of its services. For instance, it has a number of activities to capture insight which include: regular engagement with farming bodies and associations; the creation in 2022 of a farmer panel with over 750 members; learning from feedback directly received from farmers in their day to day dealings with the agency; and direct engagement with farmers through a series of face to face events all of which are improving the service and the farmer experience of dealing with government.

The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) has significant areas of expertise related to farming and agriculture: veterinary and animal health officers (livestock health and welfare), plant health, marketing of produce, egg marketing, international trade of plants, livestock and animal by-products, disease outbreak and control, scientific expertise of farm animal diseases. APHA has run recruitment campaigns for veterinary and scientific resource and plant health inspectors, has various apprenticeship schemes and specific learning and development for the various professions. APHA also collaborates with academia and has an Academic Board to support further scientific education and qualifications.

The Veterinary Medicines Directorate has a range of experienced employees to ensure veterinary medicines for agricultural use are used safely and responsibly. This includes veterinary assessors and inspectors, as well as specific teams (such as the Antimicrobial Resistance and Residues Teams) who engage with stakeholders from across the agricultural sector to ensure compliance with the Veterinary Medicines Regulations and to inform policy decisions.