Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff in his Department (a) did not retain employment following the completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Cabinet Office’s probation policy and guidance advises managers on the steps to take to assess a new employee’s suitability for the post and to provide support to enable them to succeed. It also advises on the steps to take where performance, attendance or conduct are not satisfactory. This can include exiting the employee or extending their probation to provide further evidence for a final decision on their suitability.
In Cabinet Office, data on staff who are discharged from their probation is collated centrally, however information on those who have had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years is not held.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff left his Department by grade in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Information on the number of civil servants leaving each government department and organisation by responsibility level for the years 2021 to 2025 is published annually through the ‘Civil Service data browser’ as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication. Information can be accessed through the Civil Service data browser for 2021 through 2025 at the following web address:
https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff in his Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office can confirm staff are able to voluntarily record if they have a disability and the type of disability on our current HR system. We are unable to provide numbers on each categorisation as requested as locating, retrieving information and extracting relevant information are extensive and it is not possible to break this down due to time and cost limitations.
Information on the number of people declaring a disability by each government department are published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication. Latest published data are as at 31 March 2025 and can be found at Table 29 of the statistical tables at the following web address:
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2025
Information for 31 March 2026 is due for publication in July 2026.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against his Department for (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010 in each of the last five years.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Hearings in the Employment Tribunal are normally held in public. There are a number of exceptions to this; including if there are national security concerns or if there is a vulnerable individual involved in the case.
There are a number of stages in the Tribunal Process, including ACAS conciliation, the informational stage prior to a formal tribunal being listed, preliminary hearings (where the tribunal may choose to strike out the application), and withdrawal of the claim.
Information pertaining to Employment Tribunals lodged against the department that reach hearing are listed in the public domain. It can be found at
https://www.gov.uk/employment-tribunal-decisions when searching under 'Cabinet Office'.
The published Tribunal decision documents state whether the case was upheld or not.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) his Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many such cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
All CO staff members (in scope) are allocated a performance marking at both the mid (Oct) and end of year (April) points of the performance year as part of their performance reviews. These performance markings are Exceeding, High Performing, Achieving, or Partially Met. The below table sets out how many performance reviews were undertaken and are further broken down by full time and part time staff.
Year | FT HC | FT Perf Completed | FT % | PT HC | PT Perf Completed | PT % | Total HC | Perf Record Completed | % |
31/03/25 | 6200 | 4530 | 73.06% | 700 | 551 | 78.71% | 6900 | 5081 | 73.64% |
31/03/24 | 5815 | 4947 | 85.07% | 630 | 563 | 89.37% | 6445 | 5510 | 85.49% |
31/03/23 | 5300 | 4348 | 82.04% | 600 | 506 | 84.33% | 5900 | 4854 | 82.27% |
Data Not Available |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Data Not Available |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The historical data for 2021 and 2022 cannot be segmented in the same format as the last three years, and so the data covers performance markings uploaded by line managers on our central system (SOP) between 2023-25. The process relies heavily on active engagement from the Line manager updating the central system so this may not capture all performance markings.
The data will not include all agencies as many have their own dedicated systems to record this information and are not subject to the CO performance processes. It is also important to note that not all colleagues are in scope at each cycle, as they need to have worked for the department for a minimum of 60 working days to be eligible for a marking.
This data covers all performance markings which have been uploaded onto our central system (SOP). Line managers are able to record individuals as 'Partially Met', however this does not automatically lead to poor performance measures as there are a number of reasons this may be appropriate (such as staff being new to grade or new to role). Line managers also often seek to address poor performance locally, and not all instances would be recorded on the system.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what performance indicators are used in the Civil Service; and how frequently performance is assessed.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
A summary of the performance indicators used for Senior Civil Servants in the civil service and the timeline setting out how frequently performance is assessed is published on gov.uk at the following webpage:
For departmental grades (AA - G6), departments have the flexibility in their performance management approach under the Performance Management Framework. Departments will set performance standards and box marks, where these are used.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the number and what proportion of Universal Credit claimants who have (a) no qualifications, (b) Level 2 qualifications, (c) Level 3 qualifications, (d) Level 4 qualifications, (e) Level 5 qualifications and (f) Level 6 qualifications or above.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 17th July is attached.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many staff in his Department have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
There are 6 full time equivalents working in standalone EDI roles. Otherwise, this information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what the number of (a) employments and (b) employees was by (i) UK, (ii) EU and (iii) non-EU nationality in each month since July 2014.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon gentleman Parliamentary Question of 13th of February is attached.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, when the outputs from the Transformed Labour Force Survey will be published.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority.
A response to the Hon. Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 20 November is attached.