Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what discussions he has had with representatives of civil service staff networks on the government reform strategy.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
I have not yet met with civil service staff networks, but I look forward to doing so.
This government is committed to working closely with our brilliant civil servants to ensure we deliver for the public. 14,000 civil servants responded to a 2020 survey that helped inform the Declaration on Government Reform and new vision for A Modern Civil Service. Since then, a network of Reform Champions from across grades, professions and locations have been regularly giving their views on our plans for reform and helping to make change happen where they work.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps the Prime Minister's Office is taking to reduce the time taken to respond to (a) written parliamentary questions and (b) correspondence from Members of Parliament.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
Between the period of May to July inclusive, the Prime Minister answered 100% of Parliamentary Questions on time each month. The Prime Minister receives over 3,000 letters and emails every week covering a broad spectrum of issues.
Where an Hon. Member writes to the Prime Minister about a matter that is directly the responsibility of another Department, it has been the long-standing practice of successive administrations for that matter to be passed to that Department for a substantive reply, on his behalf.
Information on departmental performance on correspondence can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/data-on-responses-to-correspondence-from-mps-and-peers.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps their Department is taking to reduce the time taken to respond to (a) written parliamentary questions and (b) correspondence from Members of Parliament.
Answered by Jeremy Quin
All departments have access to regular training led by the Parliamentary Capability Team through the Government Campus.
The Cabinet Office attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of Parliamentary Questions (PQs) and correspondence, and officials remain committed to providing the highest level of service. To complement the work of the Parliamentary Capability Team, the Cabinet Office also runs tailored training sessions for Cabinet Office staff specific to PQs and Correspondence to drive up the quality and timeliness of our responses. These sessions have been delivered 3 times since July.
Between the period of May to July inclusive, the Cabinet Office consistently answered over 90% of PQs on time each month, and an average of 86% of all ministerial correspondence on time over those 3 months.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether the Government has plans to make (a) leadership and (b) administrative roles in the Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network paid positions.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
Leadership (chair, co-chair, deputy chair of committee member) and administrative roles of the Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network are voluntary roles as part of an employee's corporate contribution and are not paid positions. There are currently no plans to make these roles paid positions.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 21 June 2022 to Question 19595 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, when the last meeting between the Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network and (a) the Civil Service Disability Network and (b) other cross-Government Diversity Networks took place; and (i) when and (ii) in what format the Government has consulted with the Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network in each of the last three years.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As set out in the Declaration on Government Reform and the recent Civil Service Diversity Strategy, the civil service is committed to setting a new standard for inclusive workplaces. The Cabinet Office values the importance of ensuring our workplaces are inclusive for colleagues with dyslexia and we engage with relevant Networks where appropriate.
The Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network are a sub-network of the Civil Service Disability Network. As a sub-network of the Civil Service Disability Network, the chairs of the sub networks meet every two months, a representative of the Civil Service Inclusive Practice Team attends these meetings, the most recent meeting was on 19 May 2022.
Additionally the team will engage with individual Networks on an ad hoc basis when requested or helpful to test HR policy which impacts specific groups. Individual HR policy teams, such as those on recruitment, organise and meet separately with stakeholders.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to (a) assist the growth of the Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network and (b) ensure it is accessible to staff in all civil service departments.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As set out in the Declaration on Government Reform and the recent Civil Service Diversity Strategy, the civil service is committed to setting a new standard for inclusive workplaces. The Cabinet Office values the importance of ensuring our workplaces are inclusive for colleagues with dyslexia and we engage with relevant Networks where appropriate.
We engage with Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network, via the Civil Service Disability Network and with other cross-Government Diversity Networks to update on key initiatives and share best practice. The network also features on the Diversity Networks webpage on GOV.UK and the Chairs are able to collaborate with other networks using our Diversity and Inclusion hub.
Across the civil service we provide support via a range of individualised workplace adjustments to remove workplace barriers to enable dyslexic colleagues to thrive at work. Our Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network is a great support to improving the working environment for Civil Servants impacted by dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia across civil service departments. The development of the Toolkit has been widely shared with colleagues in Diversity and Inclusion.
Our recruitment processes are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain as inclusive as they can be, with involvement from occupational psychologists to ensure they meet the requirements of as many people with disabilities as we reasonably can.
An equality analysis was carried out in 2016 to demonstrate due and proper regard to our equality obligations. We used the analysis to assess the impact the introduction of online tests in recruitment was likely to have. This included reviews of the literature and involved a range of stakeholder and user consultations. External neurodiversity experts are also providing ongoing independent advice to GRS about how to improve the inclusive experience of neurodiverse test takers. The Civil Service publishes written and video guidance on the alternatives that exist for disabled test takers through the reasonable adjustment process.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what steps he is taking to make the civil service recruitment process more dyslexia-friendly.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As set out in the Declaration on Government Reform and the recent Civil Service Diversity Strategy, the civil service is committed to setting a new standard for inclusive workplaces. The Cabinet Office values the importance of ensuring our workplaces are inclusive for colleagues with dyslexia and we engage with relevant Networks where appropriate.
We engage with Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network, via the Civil Service Disability Network and with other cross-Government Diversity Networks to update on key initiatives and share best practice. The network also features on the Diversity Networks webpage on GOV.UK and the Chairs are able to collaborate with other networks using our Diversity and Inclusion hub.
Across the civil service we provide support via a range of individualised workplace adjustments to remove workplace barriers to enable dyslexic colleagues to thrive at work. Our Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network is a great support to improving the working environment for Civil Servants impacted by dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia across civil service departments. The development of the Toolkit has been widely shared with colleagues in Diversity and Inclusion.
Our recruitment processes are reviewed regularly to ensure they remain as inclusive as they can be, with involvement from occupational psychologists to ensure they meet the requirements of as many people with disabilities as we reasonably can.
An equality analysis was carried out in 2016 to demonstrate due and proper regard to our equality obligations. We used the analysis to assess the impact the introduction of online tests in recruitment was likely to have. This included reviews of the literature and involved a range of stakeholder and user consultations. External neurodiversity experts are also providing ongoing independent advice to GRS about how to improve the inclusive experience of neurodiverse test takers.The Civil Service publishes written and video guidance on the alternatives that exist for disabled test takers through the reasonable adjustment process.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has had recent discussions with the (a) British Dyslexia Association and (b) other relevant organisations on steps the Government can take to make all civil service departments dyslexia-friendly workplaces.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As set out in the Declaration on Government Reform and the recent Civil Service Diversity Strategy, the civil service is committed to setting a new standard for inclusive workplaces. The Cabinet Office values the importance of ensuring our workplaces are inclusive for colleagues with dyslexia and we engage with relevant organisations where appropriate. Across the civil service we provide support via a range of individualised workplace adjustments to remove workplace barriers to enable dyslexic colleagues to thrive at work. Our Civil Service Dyslexia and Dyspraxia Network also supports improving the working environment for Civil Servants impacted by dyslexia, dyspraxia and dyscalculia across civil service departments.
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer given on 26 May 2022 to Question 6731 on Cabinet Office: Correspondence, when the Department plans to publish data on volumes and timeliness of responses to correspondence from Members of the House of Commons and Lords for 2021.
Answered by Jacob Rees-Mogg
The Government attaches great importance to the effective and timely handling of correspondence, and so does Parliament.
Ministers and officials remain committed to providing timely and detailed replies.
As part of its ongoing commitment to transparency, the Cabinet Office has published data related to letters from MPs and Peers answered by Government in 2021. This was done via a Written Ministerial Statement in my name on 26 May 2022 (HCWS59).
Asked by: Jessica Morden (Labour - Newport East)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many and what proportion of written questions to each Government department received the response that information was not available in the format requested in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) January to May 2022.
Answered by Michael Ellis
Details of responses to written parliamentary questions from other government departments are not recorded centrally by the Cabinet Office. All questions that received responses that cited disproportionate costs or information not being available in the format requested can be found publicly on the parliament.uk website and can be searched for within the years requested.