Jonathan Ashworth

The Department has been responsible for running some major campaigns over the course of this financial year. These include promoting the take up and increasing awareness of apprenticeships via the Get in, Go Far campaign and increasing awareness of rights for flexible working and shared parental leave. We have also encouraged businesses to grow and take advantage of support that is available through the Business is GREAT Britain and Do More Online campaigns and also encouraging the take up of Growth Vouchers. The expenditure for each of the months requested that have been classified as advertising and publicity is as follows:

September 2014 - £2,290,875

October 2014 - £1,813,933

November 2014 - £5,846,570

December 2014 - £1,729,298

January 2015 - £1,729,351

February 2015 - £8,080,370

March 2015 (spend to March 11th) - £856,003

In 2012, 2013 and 2014, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills produced electronic cards at Christmas for Ministers and other senior officials that requested them. These are designed in-house and sent by e-mail, incurring no purchase or postage costs for the Department.

This year’s list contained over 700 recipients in total. A copy of this list can be found in the attached table.

The Department does not hold a central record of Christmas cards sent out by Ministerial offices or officials.

I send Christmas cards to a wide variety of people I meet, work and engage with throughout the year. This includes foreign Heads of State and Government, charities and the voluntary sector, business leaders and Parliamentarians.

My rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State reviewed the situation on 23 January 2014.

My office has not commissioned polling or public opinion research.

To fulfil their overseas and UK travel commitments, there is a dedicated budget for the Trade Envoys.

Total cost of the programme to date has been £424,529

The table below shows the number of overseas visits taken by Trade Envoys since September 2012.

The table below outlines which countries were visited, and by which Trade Envoy.

GOV.UK One Login’s face-to-face identity verification route went live on 25 July 2023. The Government Digital Service has, as of 26 March 2024, spent £778,064 on the contract with the Post Office to set up and undertake in-person identity checks.

The public expects quick, secure and user-friendly access to government services. Previously, UK citizens and residents needed to grapple with multiple sign-in methods and identity verification routes when using government services online.

GOV.UK One Login is replacing these duplicative systems across government with a single account and identity checking system. This will make it easier for users to access the services they need, reduce costs to government, and provide stronger protections against fraud.

Between 1 August 2023 and 26 March 2024, the number of users who successfully verified their identity through GOV.UK One Login is as follows:

The public expects quick, secure and user-friendly access to government services. Previously, UK citizens and residents needed to grapple with multiple sign-in methods and identity verification routes when using government services online.

GOV.UK One Login is replacing these duplicative systems across government with a single account and identity checking system. This will make it easier for users to access the services they need, reduce costs to government, and provide stronger protections against fraud.

It would be inappropriate to release sensitive information held about specific red-rated systems within departmental IT estates, or information that could allow the assumption of which systems are at risk, as it could highlight potential security weaknesses.

The Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO), in the Cabinet Office, has established a programme to support departments in treating legacy. CDDO has agreed a framework to identify ‘red-rated’ systems, indicating high levels of risk surrounding assets. Departments have committed to have remediation plans in place for these systems by next year.

Information on the number of roles, including those vacant, is not available centrally. Only the number of employees ‘in post’ is available.

The number and proportion of full-time equivalent civil servants employed and located in London and outside London between Q1 (March) 2020 and Q3 (September) 2023 is available in Table 1 below, and the number excluding ‘SCS level’ employees can be found in Table 2 below. This data refers to the number of employees ‘in post’ at each reference date. Information for Q2 (June) 2020 is not centrally available. Data has, therefore, been provided for Q1 (March) and Q3 (September) 2020.

Table 1: Number of Civil Servants in London and Outside London, Q1 (Mar) 2020 to Q3 (Sep) 2023

Sources and notes:

1. March 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, Cabinet Office

2. September/December/June 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Quarterly Location Survey, Cabinet Office

3. Figures include where grade is unknown/unreported

4. Outside London includes civil servants located overseas.

5. The increase in unreported location at Q2 and Q3 2021 is mainly attributable to around 7,000 Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) staff being transferred into MOJ (HMPPS) in late June 2021, with the majority being reported with an unknown location at Q2 and Q3 2021.

Table 2: Number of Civil Servants (excluding SCS level) in London and Outside London, Q1 (Mar) 2020 to Q3 (Sep) 2023

Sources and notes:

1. March 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, Cabinet Office

2. September/December/June 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Quarterly Location Survey, Cabinet Office

3. Figures include where grade is unknown/unreported.

4. Outside London includes civil servants located overseas.

5. The increase in unreported location at Q2 and Q3 2021 is mainly attributable to around 7,000 Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) staff being transferred into MOJ (HMPPS) in late June 2021 and with the majority of them not being reported with a known location at Q2 and Q3 2021.

Information on the number of roles, including those vacant, is not available centrally. Only the number of employees ‘in post’ is available.

The number and proportion of full-time equivalent civil servants employed and located in London and outside London between Q1 (March) 2020 and Q3 (September) 2023 is available in Table 1 below, and the number excluding ‘SCS level’ employees can be found in Table 2 below. This data refers to the number of employees ‘in post’ at each reference date. Information for Q2 (June) 2020 is not centrally available. Data has, therefore, been provided for Q1 (March) and Q3 (September) 2020.

Table 1: Number of Civil Servants in London and Outside London, Q1 (Mar) 2020 to Q3 (Sep) 2023

Sources and notes:

1. March 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, Cabinet Office

2. September/December/June 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Quarterly Location Survey, Cabinet Office

3. Figures include where grade is unknown/unreported

4. Outside London includes civil servants located overseas.

5. The increase in unreported location at Q2 and Q3 2021 is mainly attributable to around 7,000 Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) staff being transferred into MOJ (HMPPS) in late June 2021, with the majority being reported with an unknown location at Q2 and Q3 2021.

Table 2: Number of Civil Servants (excluding SCS level) in London and Outside London, Q1 (Mar) 2020 to Q3 (Sep) 2023

Sources and notes:

1. March 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Annual Civil Service Employment Survey, Cabinet Office

2. September/December/June 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023: Quarterly Location Survey, Cabinet Office

3. Figures include where grade is unknown/unreported.

4. Outside London includes civil servants located overseas.

5. The increase in unreported location at Q2 and Q3 2021 is mainly attributable to around 7,000 Community Rehabilitation Company (CRC) staff being transferred into MOJ (HMPPS) in late June 2021 and with the majority of them not being reported with a known location at Q2 and Q3 2021.

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.

The GREAT Britain and Northern Ireland campaign is the UK’s international brand marketing campaign, which works closely with UK businesses, not-for-profit organisations and high-profile figures to promote the best of the UK abroad. Since 2021/22, the GREAT campaign has had an annual overall budget of circa £60m (2021/22: £60m; 2022/23: £57.12m; and 2023/24: £57.12m). The results of individual GREAT campaigns vary but, on average, externally verified analysis shows £1 of GREAT spend on marketing generates £15 for the UK by encouraging people to visit, study, trade, invest, live and work in the UK.

Encouraging prospective international students to choose to study in UK higher education institutions brings strong return on investment. For example, the GREAT Study UK campaign generated £407m in 2021/22 and £548m in 2022/23 (specifically from international students studying for up to three years in the UK). The 2023/24 results are currently being verified and are expected by June 2024.

The information requested is not held centrally from 2010 to date.

The Digital and Data profession issues a Workforce Planning data Commission twice a year in April and October. Below are the number of full-time Civil Servant professionals in filled positions for the years 2022 and 2023:

a) 2022, April commission: 16,662

b) 2023, April commission: 20,163

c) 2023, October commission: 21,366

The 2024 April commission is being issued this month (March 2024), workforce data is therefore not yet available. We are firmly on track to reach its target 6% of the overall civil service workforce by 2025.

The GOV.UK One Login system is fully operational, providing a simple and secure way for people to access government services online. Users can create an account, login and prove (and then reuse) their identity - through either a web-based journey, smartphone app or in-person route - to access an initial set of 30 government services. This includes important services such as ‘Request a Disclosure and Barring Service Basic Check’, ‘Apply for an HM Armed Forces Veteran Card’ and ‘Sign Your Mortgage Deed’.

We are on track to onboard additional services - including in HMRC, DWP and DVLA - over the next year, bringing the total number to at least 145.

The Government Recruitment Service collaborates with departments, functions and professions to develop and deliver high quality, customer-focused recruitment that identifies and attracts the best people for roles whilst offering a wide range of services. It offers core low-cost solutions to meet routine recruitment needs and handles more complex or specialist campaigns by tailoring its approach to attract and recruit the highest quality candidates.

The following table presents civil service recruitment campaigns with successful and unsuccessful vacancy outcomes for campaigns managed by the Government Recruitment Service.

The Government Recruitment Service does not hold any data on why candidates are not successful. However, there could be a range of reasons for non-appointment. All candidates will have been sifted or interviewed out of the recruiting process.

Non executive board members are not employees of the Cabinet Office and act in an advisory capacity. Non-executive’s personal data, including those relating to personal taxation or status, are protected by the UK General Data Protection Regulation. Collection of personal data on non-dom status is not routinely collected and is generally not required for making public appointments. If any such data was held it could only be published if doing so was in compliance with data protection law.

Data relating to public appointments are covered by the Public Appointments Privacy Statement found here https://apply-for-public-appointment.service.gov.uk/privacy.

Data Maturity is a recognised priority in central government departments. Departments are committed to completing a targeted Data Maturity Assessment of a strategically important part of the department within the year.

The Data Marketplace provides a front door to discover, share and deliver government data in a legal, ethical and trusted way. It passed its initial Alpha assessment in September and will be available as public Beta at the end of March 2024. We are currently working with a number of departments in private beta to develop the service. The Data Marketplace committed spend covering the period April 2022 to April 2024 is £6.7m with a further £4m forecast in the following financial year, 2024/25.

Data Maturity is a recognised priority in central government departments. Departments are committed to completing a targeted Data Maturity Assessment of a strategically important part of the department within the year.

The Data Marketplace provides a front door to discover, share and deliver government data in a legal, ethical and trusted way. It passed its initial Alpha assessment in September and will be available as public Beta at the end of March 2024. We are currently working with a number of departments in private beta to develop the service. The Data Marketplace committed spend covering the period April 2022 to April 2024 is £6.7m with a further £4m forecast in the following financial year, 2024/25.

The GOV.UK One Login programme is continuing to expand its customer and technical support, as planned. In addition to a new contact centre that provides real-time multi-channel assistance to users, GOV.UK One Login recently launched an enhanced technical service desk with round-the-clock monitoring and support for more complex technical issues. We regularly review user demand, performance levels and customer feedback to optimise operational capacity, using automation where appropriate to ensure high quality and efficient service provision. GOV.UK One Login has robust security and resilience measures in place to keep users’ data safe.

The information is not centrally held in the form requested. Government external expenditure will include Civil Service fast stream, public appointments, workforce planning, and on training and development.

Identifying spending specifically on using consultancies to recruit temporary or permanent staff could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

The Prime Minister’s Office is an integral part of the Cabinet Office. I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 28th February 2024, Official Report, PQ 5332.

The UK government is proud of its record in proactively seeking to find and prevent more fraud in the system and has invested over an extra £1bn in tackling fraud and error since Autumn 2021 across government. This includes the launch of the Public Sector Fraud Authority in August 2022 which builds on lessons learned in the management of fraud risk and loss in the pandemic.

The government’s ‘Cross-Government Fraud Landscape Annual Report 2022’ showed that at the end of March 2021 there had been £88.2m of fraud and error recovered within COVID-19 schemes (excluding HMRC-administered COVID-19 schemes and any fraud and error related to tax and welfare). Of this, £19.6m was reported by departments as fraud and £68.6m was reported as error. These figures only represent 2020-2021 data, since then, further funds have been recovered.

This information is not centrally held. Every department is responsible for their own consultancy spend with governance, assurance and control over budgets to ensure value for money.

The government continues to prioritise ongoing work to provide estimates of the value of detected and prevented fraud associated with the pandemic. The 2022 Fraud Landscape Report showed that in 2020/21, across government and outside of tax and welfare, the Fraud Landscape Report has reported £88m of recovered fraud and error related to COVID-19. However since then further funds have been recovered and further efforts to recover funds is ongoing. More uptodate figures will be published in due course.

It was only right that the Government and local authorities stepped up to support the country in unprecedented times during the pandemic – saving businesses and the jobs they create.

The Government is committed to transparency in its efforts to tackle fraud against the public sector. The UK is one of the few countries to estimate fraud and error within the public sector and to openly publish this estimate. The Government also continues to prioritise ongoing work to provide estimates of the value of detected and prevented fraud associated with the pandemic. In 2021, the Government recovered a total of £88m from fraud and error relating to COVID-19 support schemes.

The 2022 Fraud Landscape Report showed that in 2020/21, across government, detected fraud amounted to £54m within COVID-19 specific schemes.

The One Login programme has agreed an adoption roadmap with 15 major government departments, in line with the commitment in the Transforming for a digital future: 2022 to 2025 roadmap for digital and data.

In its 2022-2025 Roadmap for Digital and Data, the Government committed that by 2025, at least 50 of government’s top 75 identified services will move to a ‘great’ standard, against a consistent measure of service performance.

The framework, developed by the Central Digital and Data Office (CDDO) in the Cabinet Office, in consultation with departments, has quantitative and qualitative elements to assess the end-to-end service, and focuses on usability, efficiency, and compliance. The metrics used to measure these are:

• Usability:

• Digital adoption - proportion of transactions completed online

• Digital completion - proportion that are start online are completed

• User satisfaction - proportion of users that are satisfied

• Efficiency:

• Cost per transaction - the cost to provide the service including staffing, technology and operational costs

• Compliance:

• Accessibility - whether it meets legal accessibility requirements

These quantitative measures are consistently assessed using a benchmark of government services and industry standards to provide a robust assessment. Additional data and context can be included through qualitative assessment to ensure a complete and accurate assessment.

Further information on the framework has been published at

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-for-a-digital-future-governments-2022-to-25-roadmap-for-digital-and-data/transforming-for-a-digital-future-governments-2022-to-25-roadmap-for-digital-and-data#the-six-missions

The GOV.UK One Login programme’s total budget for the three years from 2022/23 to 2024/25 is £305.4 million. Of this, the programme is forecasting expenditure of £132.7m on the development and roll out of the system by the end of the current financial year.

Over 1.5 million users have successfully used GOV.UK One Login to access services. The programme will help save over £700 million over the next three years, as well as people’s time and effort.

The GOV.UK One Login programme has recently expanded its customer support offering with the launch of a contact centre to provide real-time multi-channel assistance to users. Alongside this, One Login will shortly roll out an enhanced technical service desk to provide round-the-clock monitoring and technical support. Both of these initiatives will be scaled up over time as more government services and users onboard to GOV.UK One Login.