Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many applications for Recruitment Principles exceptions has the Civil Service Commission rejected since 4 July 2024; and how many breaches of the Recruitment Principles have been identified in the same period.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Where the Civil Service Commission does not believe that a proposed appointment by exception is justified either by the needs of the Civil Service or to enable the Civil Service to participate in a government employment initiative, it may reject the proposal or impose additional conditions. As has been long-standing practice under successive administrations, this information is not published.
The Commission also issues breaches where non-compliance with the Recruitment Principles has been identified. This information is published in the Commission’s annual report, which can be found at https://civilservicecommission.independent.gov.uk/publications/annual-reports/
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 30 July 2024 to Question 943 on Civil Service: Trade Union Officials, what guidance his Department has issued on the (a) proportion of the total Civil Service paybill that should be allocated to facility time and (b) maximum percentage of time that individual Civil Service staff may spend on facility time.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Under the previous administration, the Cabinet Office provided departments with a facility time framework agreement, and supporting guidance, which departments must use when agreeing their facility time and facilities usage agreements with their recognised trade unions.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 23 July 2024 to Question 1247 on Special Advisers: Pay, whether the salaries of all special advisers have been agreed; and who is responsible for determining those salaries.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Special adviser salaries are set according to the special adviser pay framework. Information on Special Adviser numbers and costs will be published in the Annual Report on Special Advisers as per the requirements of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010, as was the case under the previous Administration.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, how many of the appointments for the Director Generals in charge of the five Mission Delivery Boards have been externally advertised; and for what length of time have vacancies been open to apply for those posts.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Five Directors General (DG) have been selected as Senior Responsible Officers (SROs) for each of the five Missions. All five were selected by the Cabinet Secretary and relevant Permanent Secretary, in consultation with their Secretary of State, on the basis of their expertise and experience.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff (a) excluding and (b) including special advisers are employed by 10 Downing Street broken down by (i) headcount and (ii) full-time equivalent, as of 10 September 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
For management and staffing purposes the Prime Minister’s Office is part of the Cabinet Office. As of 31 August 2024 there are 240 (237.4 FTE) permanent civil servants employed by the Cabinet Office and allocated to the Prime Minister’s Office.
As was the case under the previous Administration, information about Special Adviser numbers will be published in the Annual report on Special Advisers.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, how many of the appointments for the Director Generals of the five Mission Delivery Boards have been internally advertised; and how long have those vacancies been advertised.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Five Directors General (DG) have been selected as Senior Responsible Officers (SROs) for each of the five Missions. All five were selected by the Cabinet Secretary and relevant Permanent Secretary, in consultation with their Secretary of State, on the basis of their expertise and experience.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the Government's policy is on its special advisers (a) posting political opinions and (b) commenting on Government business on social media.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out Special Advisers’ obligations with regards to the media, including social media.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether changes have been made to the Government-appointed trustees of (a) Dorneywood and (b) Chequers since 4 July 2024.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
No changes have been made by the government with regard to government-appointed trustees on the boards of Dorneywood or Chequers.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference to the former Prime Minister's letter entitled Government transparency and open data, published on 14 December 2017, whether the content of the letter remains Government policy; and when Government departments plan to publish updated structure charts and organograms.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Parliamentary Secretary (Cabinet Office)
Transparency reporting requirements remain in place, with data regularly being published on GOV.UK.
Asked by: John Glen (Conservative - Salisbury)
Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:
To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 30 July 2024, to Question 1246 on Greenpeace, whether he has made an assessment of the potential implications for the Government's policy on engagement with Greenpeace of the protest held by representatives of that organisation at the then Prime Minister's family home in August 2023.
Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)
It remains the Government's policy to engage with a range of stakeholders, including Greenpeace.