Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions her Department has had requests for appointments by exception to the Senior Civil Service turned down by the Civil Service Commission since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Karen Bradley
As set out by the Minister for the Cabinet Office on (10 November 2014 213040), the Civil Service Commission publish details of appointments made by exception and approved by them in their annual reports and on their website.
These reports are available in the Library of the House. It would not be appropriate to publish by individual departments details of the requests turned down by the Commission as the numbers involved are so small.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Instant Rewards of what value were given to her Department's officials in (a) 2013 and (b) 2014 to date.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Home Office thank you voucher scheme is intended to reward staff quickly for outstanding achievement over and above normal good performance. Staff can receive either a £25 or £50 voucher for each piece of work being rewarded.
Thank you vouchers have been ordered to a total value of £91,035 for 2013 and £135,490 for 2014 to date.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on iPhones in each year since 2010.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Home Office does hold the information that you requested. However, after careful consideration we have decided not to disclose the information as we have a contractual obligation to treat the costs as confidential.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on how many occasions her Department has made appointments by exception since 2010; and who was appointed for each such post.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The table below sets out the number of appointments in the Home Department at all grades made by exception to the Civil Service Recruitment Principles for the full financial years since 2009/10. The increase in the number of exceptions used by the Department in 2013-14 reflects temporary appointments made to meet seasonal workforce demands in Border Force.
We do not hold centrally the names of those appointed to each post, and providing would incur a disproportionate cost.
Financial Year | Number of exceptions |
2009-2010 | 128 |
2010-2011 | 162 |
2011-2012 | 59 |
2012-2013 | 163 |
2013-2014 | 366 |
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many Freedom of Information requests her Department has declined to answer in full since 2010.
Answered by Karen Bradley
The Ministry of Justice publishes annual statistical reports on the handling of requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 for central government. These reports include statistics on the numbers of requests granted in full and those where information was partially or fully withheld. These reports can be accessed on the following webpage: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/government-foi-statistics.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department has spent on legal fees over prevention of release of information requested by Freedom of Information requests since 2010.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Legal costs in relation to FOI cannot be provided as they are not recorded separately.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what professional development courses are made available to staff of her Department; and what the cost to the public purse is of each such course.
Answered by Karen Bradley
26 recognised Civil Service professions exist across government to ensure civil
servants are able to develop and deliver a professional service.
Civil servants can find resources and information to support their professional
development on the Civil Service Learning portal which is accessible to all civil servants.
All professions have a head of profession; appointed for their experience,
knowledge and skills, who support the development of the profession and work
with key partners to develop timely learning curricula, which are aligned to
the Civil Service Competency Framework (CSCF), and civil service priorities.
Each of the frameworks and curricula offer a wealth of learning opportunities
including qualifications, workshops, and masterclasses.
Within the Home Office, opportunities for professional development are linked
closely with business requirements . The Home Office has 18 established
professions. They are: Communications, Corporate Finance, Government Economic
Service, Government Finance, Government IT Profession, Government Legal
Service, Government Property Profession, Government Social Research, Government
Veterinary Profession, Human Resources, Internal Audit, Knowledge and
Information Management, Operational Delivery, Policy Profession, Procurement,
Project Delivery, Science & Engineering, Statistical Services.
Given the differing range of learning opportunities available for individual
professions, there is no single source which can identify exactly what
development courses are available to staff and what the cost to the public
purse of every professional development course is.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many senior civil servants appointed to positions in her Department since 2010 were previously (a) political appointees within that Department and (b) employed by a political party.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Unlike special advisers who became senior officials under the last government,
there has been no appointment to the Home Office since 2010 of a senior civil
servant who was previously a political appointee within the Department.
The Department does not routinely hold the information asked in (b) therefore
in order to ascertain how many senior civil servants appointed since 2010 were
previously employed by a political party would incur disproportionate cost.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on legal fees in cases relating to the release of information requested under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Legal costs in relation to FOI cannot be provided as they are not recorded
separately.
Asked by: Lord Walney (Crossbench - Life peer)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, on what occasions each Minister within her Department has taken domestic flights on official business since May 2010.
Answered by Karen Bradley
Details of all overseas Ministerial travel are passed to the Cabinet Office on
a quarterly basis and are subsequently placed on the Gov.uk website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/home-office-mnisters-hospitality-data