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 total cost was of (a) settlement agreements and (b) special severance payments made to departing staff in the last year.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
For the last financial year, the total cost to the Cabinet Office of payments associated with settlement agreements is set out in Annual Report and Accounts. Please find attached link here
Figures for 2025/26 are not yet available as the analysis has not been conducted and the figures have not been audited. These will be published in the department's 2025/26 Annual Report and Accounts in September 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 and what proportion of staff were promoted (a) in-grade and (b) to a higher grade in the last year broken down by (i) performance marking in the previous year and (ii) grade.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
This data would be difficult to present, due to there being no definition of an in grade promotion and limited data on staff who go on promotion to another department. Collation and presentation of this data would require significant manual work and data linking across departments.
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 and what proportion of staff in each grade were rated in the top performance category in the last year.
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.
The below table sets out what proportion of staff in each grade were awarded an Exceeding marking for the 24/25 end of year process.
Grade | No of Employees at grade | Exceeding |
SCS3 | 14 | <5 |
SCS2 | 87 | 13 |
SCS1 | 294 | 65 |
G6 | 772 | 169 |
G7 | 1887 | 309 |
SEO | 1163 | 208 |
HEO | 1325 | 161 |
EO | 758 | 92 |
AO | 387 | 42 |
This data covers all performance markings which have been uploaded onto our central system (SOP).
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.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what funding has been allocated to programmes relating to the UKs relationship with Europe in the (a) 2026-7, (b) 2028-9 and (c) 2029-30 financial years.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
The European Union is the UK’s largest trading partner, and cooperation with our European partners is – among other issues – central to the Government’s work on trade, security, illegal migration, development and climate change, not to mention our support for Ukraine. In order to obtain an answer, the Hon Member may therefore wish to be more specific about the aspects of the UK’s relationship with Europe that he has in mind.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what estimate he has made of the number of UK students who will access the Erasmus scheme in 2027-28, 2028-29 and 2029-30.
Answered by Nick Thomas-Symonds - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
We have now concluded negotiations with the European Commission on association to Erasmus+ in 2027. Our commitment covers the 2027/28 academic year.
We will now work closely with institutions and our young people to maximise take-up, particularly among disadvantaged groups. We expect that over 100,000 people could benefit from mobility and partnership opportunities from Erasmus+ participation in 2027-28.
Any participation in Erasmus+ into the next Multiannual Financial Framework will need to be agreed in the future, and be based on a fair and balanced contribution.
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 disciplinary cases were concluded against civil servants in (a) the Department and (b) its agencies broken down by (i) outcome and (ii) whether the primary allegation related to (A) performance and (B) conduct in the past twelve months.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
The Cabinet Office does not centrally hold detailed data on all discipline cases required to answer this question.
Minor misconduct cases are managed within the line management chain and details are held at that level.
Serious and gross misconduct cases are reported via a third party, Civil Service Casework, supplied by the MOJ Casework Team. This data relies on MOJ HR Case Manager manual entries which may be inaccurate and or incomplete.
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 average number of working days lost to sickness absence per full-time equivalent member of staff was in (a) the Department and (b) its executive agencies in the last year; and how many formal performance warnings were issued to staff whose absence exceeded departmental triggers.
Answered by Anna Turley - Minister without Portfolio (Cabinet Office)
Sickness absence data for the Civil Service, including departmental breakdowns is published annually, and is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/sickness-absence The next update will be for the year ending 31st March 2025.
Data on performance warnings related to sickness absence is not held centrally.
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.