Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 26 March (HL5733), whether it is their policy that civil servants may self-identify as having a neurodivergent condition.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
All of the demographic questions asked on HR systems are dependent on self-identification. There may be situations where additional information is required about a condition for example to support the provision of reasonable adjustments.
This will depend on the condition, but also the nature of requested adjustments.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how neurodiversity is recognised within the employment practices of the Civil Service.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Civil Service supports neurodivergent employees in all aspects of employment practices in accordance with the Equality Act 2010.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the work of the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.
Answered by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Infected Blood Compensation Authority (IBCA) is an operationally independent body. My honourable friend in the other place, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, who is the sponsoring Minister for IBCA, is committed to working with IBCA to monitor their performance and ensure compensation is delivered to everyone who is eligible as quickly as possible. The first payments to infected people have been made, totalling over £25 million, and in February the Government laid the second set of infected blood compensation regulations before Parliament. If approved by Parliament, these regulations will give IBCA the powers it needs to also begin payments to affected people eligible under the Scheme.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made, if any, of the effects of long-term sickness among civil servants on the delivery of public services.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The Civil Service provides its employees with a comprehensive range of health and wellbeing tools and policies to ensure that employees remain in work or return to work as quickly as possible following absence due to ill health. In addition, since 2022, the Government People Group has worked with the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the professional body for HR, and the Joint Department for Work and Pensions and Department of Health and Social Care Work and Health Directorate, to benchmark the Civil Service approach to long term sickness for its employees, and ensure it is aligned to best practice.
Individual departments are responsible for managing their own workforces, including the impact of any sickness absences to ensure the effective delivery of the public services it is responsible for.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the impact of working from home on efficiency and outcomes in the Civil Service.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
There are a wide range of studies available on the clear benefits of hybrid working, which have been used to inform the expectation for 60% office attendance for Civil Servants. The government renewed their commitment to the 60% office attendance mandate on the 24th October, and has resumed quarterly publication of office occupancy data to support this.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the remarks of Baroness Blake of Leeds on 9 October (HL Deb col 2091), whether it remains the Government’s position that civil servants are expected to work in the workplace for a minimum of three days a week; and what plans, if any, they have to change this.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
Current Civil Service guidance requires Civil Servants to attend the office or work face-to-face with colleagues at least 60% of the time. There are no plans to change those requirements.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the private funding received by think tanks operating in the (1) political, and (2) economic, policy areas in England and Wales; and whether they have any plans to reform the (a) funding regime, or (b) declarations of sources of funding, for such think tanks.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Basildon - Leader of the House of Lords and Lord Privy Seal
It is for each individual think tank to publicise and declare their sources of funding. The Government believes that think tanks can play a legitimate part in public policy development, so long as their activity is conducted transparently and ethically in order to maintain the highest standards in public life.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government how many (1) men, and (2) women, in England and Wales are currently in paid employment at the age of (a) 75, and (b) 80 years.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 03/09/24 is attached.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the right of Lords Spiritual to vote in general elections.
Answered by Baroness Twycross - Baroness in Waiting (HM Household) (Whip)
While the Lords Temporal are unable to vote at general elections to the House of Commons, this legal exclusion does not apply to the Lords Spiritual. In practice, however, it has long been the tradition that the Lords Spiritual do not vote at general elections.
Asked by: Lord Patten (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask His Majesty's Government what is their assessment of the performance and governance of the UK Statistics Authority.
Answered by Baroness Neville-Rolfe - Shadow Minister (Treasury)
The UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) was established under the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007. The Authority is an independent statutory body governed by the UKSA Board. It operates at arm’s length from the Government as a non-ministerial department and reports directly to the UK Parliament, the Scottish Parliament, the Welsh Parliament and the Northern Ireland Assembly.
In June 2023 an independent review of UKSA by Professor Denise Lievesley CBE was announced by the Government. As part of the Public Bodies Review Programme the review has focused on governance, efficacy, accountability and efficiency. The review is currently in its final stages and the Government plans to publish it later this year.
Further information on the UKSA’s performance and governance arrangements are set out in their annual report and accounts, found here: https://uksa.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/publication/annual-report-and-accounts-2022-2023/
Additionally, a review of the UKSA, conducted by Professor Sir Charles Bean, was provided to the Government in 2016 which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-uk-economic-statistics-final-report. While that review primarily focused on UK Economic Statistics, it also covered governance.