Civil Service Impartiality Debate

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Department: Cabinet Office

Civil Service Impartiality

Amy Callaghan Excerpts
Monday 6th March 2023

(1 year, 2 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

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Jeremy Quin Portrait Jeremy Quin
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My hon. Friend makes a good point. I have attended a number of urgent questions in this House, and I have rarely seen the Opposition Benches as empty as they are today.

Amy Callaghan Portrait Amy Callaghan (East Dunbartonshire) (SNP)
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Why are this Government happy to attack civil servants through this urgent question, yet unwilling to pay them properly?

Jeremy Quin Portrait Jeremy Quin
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To be clear, we on the Government Benches have no desire or intention whatsoever to attack civil servants. We want to protect the impartiality of the civil service, and protect it from any shift in perception of its impartiality; and we want to hold the Opposition to account, and ask them to be a bit more transparent about their dealings.