Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many staff were involved in conducting the Research and Development tax relief reform and intensive support Screening Equality Impact Assessment, published on 18 September 2025; and how many hours were spent by (a) Departmental staff and (b) external consultants in its preparation.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

Tax policy reforms are implemented by HMRC through projects, to ensure efficient and accurate implementation taking account of customer needs. Projects follow set procedures, monitoring and governance. As part of the governance process, screening equality impact assessments (EQIAs) are delivered by the Project Team to determine whether full assessments are needed. The screening assessment for the R&D reforms published on 18 September concluded that a full assessment was not necessary. The resource and time used for the screening EQIA is part of the policy project delivery resource and not tracked separately. No external consultants were engaged.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many staff left his Department in each of the last five years by grade.

Answered by Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

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/

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The table below outlines the number of employment tribunal claims lodged against the central Department for Transport (DfTc) in each of the last five years. As requested, this information is broken down by unfair dismissal claims and claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff were involved in conducting the Equality Impact Assessment of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, published in February 2025; and how many hours were spent by (a) Departmental staff and (b) external consultants in its preparation.

Answered by Alex Norris - Minister of State (Home Office)

Impacts on vulnerable individuals and equalities considerations are at the front and centre of our work. As required through the Public Sector Equality Duty, the Home Office considers equality impacts in detail throughout the policy development process. It is not possible to estimate how many departmental staff hours were spent as part of this process due to the continuing nature of this work when designing policy. No external consultants were involved in the preparation of the Equality Impact Assessment.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many 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 Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

This information can only be obtained via disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against his Department in each of the last five years by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The proportion of Employment Tribunals claims which include Unfair Dismissal as a reason for the claim is 25.1%, and 62.5% of Employment Tribunals lodged against the Department are brought under the Equality Act 2010. 3.9% of cases lodged against the Department cite both Unfair Dismissal and claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Employment Tribunals lodged against the Department for Unfair Dismissal

Employment Tribunals lodged against the Department under the Equality Act 2010

*A breakdown of protected characteristics where Employment Tribunals have been brought has been included. Please note, Employment Tribunal claims often include multiple reasons when lodging a claim e.g. race discrimination and disability discrimination etc. This means that, total Employment Tribunals lodged against the department under the Equality Act 2010 will not reflect the total claims under the different protected characteristics.

Employment Tribunals lodged under both Unfair Dismissal and a claim under the Equality Act 2010 against the Department

*Figures below are included in the previous tables.

The Ministry of Justice headcount is circa 82,000 in total.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff in his Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability, broken down by grade.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

In the Ministry of Justice (including its executive agencies: HMCTS, CICA, LAA, OPG, and HMPPS), along with the wider Civil Service, information about a disability or long-term condition, including mental health conditions, is completed by staff on a voluntary basis, on HR systems. Data on mental health conditions is only available as a subset of those who have voluntarily indicated they considered themselves to have disability or long-term condition. As there is no single category for physical disability, we have provided data on all those who have indicated a disability or long-term condition.

The data provided covers the Ministry of Justice, including its executive agencies: MoJ HQ, HMCTS, CICA, LAA, OPG, and HMPPS.

The table below shows data for the number of staff in post in the department who have self-reported a disability or long-term condition, broken down by grade, as of 31 March 2025.

The total will not exactly match that used in Civil Service Statistics as we have used a different methodology applicable to internal data in order to answer this question.

The table below shows data for the number of staff in post in the department who have self-reported the HR data management systems category mental health conditions, broken down by grade, as of 31 March 2025.

*Data includes those who have selected a single category mental health conditions. We do not capture those who may have multiple conditions or include information provided as free text.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, 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 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 Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice operates a continuous performance management approach based on a rolling cycle of regular performance conversations between line managers and staff members. The Department does not operate a set reporting year for performance reviews and does not use performance ratings or box markings. As such, the Ministry of Justice does not hold the data requested.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff left his Department in each of the last 5 years, broken down by grade.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

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: Civil Service Statistics data browser.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many staff were involved in conducting the Equality Impact Assessment of Official Development Assistance programme allocations for 2025 to 2026, published on 22 July 2025; and how many hours were spent by (a) Departmental staff and (b) external consultants in its preparation.

Answered by Chris Elmore - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The requested information is not readily available, and could only be obtained for the purposes of answering this question at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in his Department (a) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home 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. However, the information requested can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Justice:

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many staff (a) did not retain employment in the Department following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last 5 years.

Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip

The Ministry of Justice’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.

The table below shows data for the number of staff who left the Department for the leaving reason "Discharged Probation", in the 12 months to 31 March 2021 - 31 March 2025.

Notes to table 1:

1. Information on the number of staff who have left the department is published in the Civil Service Statistics but not broken down by the leaving reason "Discharged Probation". Therefore, we have used leavers data from the MOJ’s central HR system, SOP, to answer this PQ.

2. Data for MoJ staff (excluding HMPPS) includes only on-strength payroll leavers, whereas data for HMPPS includes all leavers.

Information for the second part of this question, relating to the number of staff that had their probationary period extended in each of the last 5 years, is not published and is not held in the central HR system. Therefore, this information cannot be provided.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many staff were involved in conducting the Equality Impact Assessment of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, published in March 2025; and how many hours were spent by (a) Departmental staff and (b) external consultants in its preparation.

Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)

The department published an equality impact assessment for the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill upon introduction of the Bill to Parliament. This was last updated 21 March 2025, to reflect changes to the Bill during its Commons passage.

This assessment was prepared by officials responsible for the measures in the Bill. Given the broad scope of this Bill, it is not possible to provide the number of hours spent preparing this document.

No external consultants were involved in the preparation of the equality impact assessment.

The department will continue to monitor the equalities impact of all policies as the Bill progresses through Parliament and update the published impact assessment.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home 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/

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in her Department (a) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The Department for Transport’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. The table below shows how many employees of the central Department for Transport (DfTc) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period or had their probationary period extended.

As requested this information is provided for the last five 5 years, noting that 2025 data covers 1 January to 24 October 2025.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability, broken down by grade.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

Following a thorough search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by this Department. This is because it is not a requirement of the department to hold reasons for disability.

The Department invites employees to self-declare their disability status using pre-defined criteria, including ‘prefer not to say’. Of the employees who have chosen to complete their data as of the 30th of September 2025, 238 individuals have recorded their status as disabled in the central Department for Transport.

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many 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 Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

We have provided a response based on the number of submitted reviews over the entirety of a complete performance year (April 1 to March 31), for performance years 2024/25, 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, 2020/21. This has been split, where possible, between Department for Transport (DfT) core and its agencies (Active Travel England (ATE), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)). In addition, data has been split by Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and delegated grades (Grade 6 and below), as performance is managed differently.

The information provided does not include employees that have been marked as out of scope for review, and where figures within each business unit are below 5, these have been withheld for identification protection under S40(2) of the FOIA.

TOTAL REVIEWS CONDUCTED

NUMBER OF UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE RATINGS

NUMBER OF DIMISSALS AS A RESULT OF PERFORMANCE AND FTE PROPORTION

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in her Department hold language qualifications in (a) Mandarin, (b) Cantonese, (c) Russian, (d) Ukrainian, (e) Arabic, (f) Farsi, and (g) Hebrew, broken down by C1 and C2 levels.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

The language proficiency of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff cannot adequately be assessed solely by looking at the number with current C1 and C2 qualifications, as this does not take into account those staff members who may hold other qualifications in those languages or be native speakers. A full record of staff language capabilities is not centrally held, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against his Department in each of the last five years for (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) was created in February 2023.

In the period 23/24: 1 Employment Tribunal (ET) claim was lodged for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination.

In the period 24/25: 2 ET claims were lodged for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination and 1 ET claim for unfair dismissal alone.

In the period 25/26: 1 ET claim has been lodged for disability discrimination alone.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, 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 Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

(a)There is no evidence in the data held in the DESNZ HR Oracle system of any employee being dismissed during their probationary period.

(b) Probation extensions are not centrally recorded in the Oracle HR System.

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff left his Department in each of the last five years by grade.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

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:

Civil Service statistics - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, how many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

Answered by Simon Lightwood - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Transport)

The table below presents the headcount of permanent civil servants who have left from the central Department for Transport over the past 5 years, categorised by grade. To ensure the inclusion of the most recent data, the data is provided on a rolling year basis from October to September.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, 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 Andrew Western - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)

Notes: data for 2020 and 2021 is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many serving (a) General Officers in the British Army, (b) Admirals and Flag Officers in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, (c) Air Officers of Air Rank in the Royal Air Force, (d) Commanding Officers of commissioned Royal Navy submarines and (e) Royal Air Force pilots holding frontline squadron command there are.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Parts a,b and c of the hon. Member's question are answered in the table below.

The Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose the trained strength of individual branches or specialisations as to do so could, or would be likely to, prejudice the security of the Armed Forces. For this reason, I am withholding the answer to parts D and E of this question.

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:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/senior-civil-service-performance-management/performance-management-framework-for-the-senior-civil-service-2025-to-2026-performance-year

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.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability, broken down by grade.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

While the self-declaration field for disability and absence data will indicate a mental health condition or a physical disability, this will not confirm the presence of either and therefore this information is not held.

However, the number of staff who have declared they have a disability by grade is published and can be found via the link below.

Home Office workforce diversity statistics - GOV.UK

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Home Office)

The Home Office has 205 Employment Tribunal claims in the last 5 years (01/10/2021 to 30/09/2025), however, to determine those which relate to unfair dismissals and/or the Equality Act 2010 can only be obtained via disproportionate cost.

Employment Tribunals decisions are published and can be found in the link below.

Employment tribunal decisions - GOV.UK

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, 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 Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was established on 7th February 2023. The data provided is from 1st April 2023 to present, in alignment with our performance year.

We do not record any data relating to performance management for any of our agencies.

DESNZ does not record the number of individual performance reviews undertaken, but records the formal ratings assigned at the end of each performance year at the end of March. For the 2023/24 annual cycle, 15 employees were rated as unsatisfactory or below. For 2024/25 period, 38 employees fell into this category.

Data on the number of employees leaving as a direct result of an unsatisfactory performance rating is not recorded locally by DESNZ. There can be a combination of reasons for individuals leaving, so a direct correlation cannot be drawn.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff left her Department in each of the last five years by grade.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

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/

Question to the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero:

To ask the Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero, how many staff in his Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.

Answered by Michael Shanks - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)

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:

Civil Service statistics - GOV.UK

Information for 31 March 2026 is due for publication in July 2026.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of people claiming Personal Independence Payments had their award assessed through (a) a telephone consultation, (b) an in person assessment, (c) a paper based assessment and (d) a video assessment in each of the last ten years; and what the approval rate was for each method.

Answered by Stephen Timms - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

Management information on the number and proportion of Personal Independence Payments assessments by channel is published in Table 2.32 of the Pathways to Work: Evidence pack: Chapter 2 reforming the structure - GOV.UK. Telephone and video channels have only been available since 2020.

The information on approval rates requested is not readily available, and providing it would incur a disproportionate cost.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her 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 Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The information requested is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

Defra’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.

Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.

Answered by Angela Eagle - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

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 of 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.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions she had with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) on the risk that OBR productivity growth forecasts would be revised down before the (a) Autumn Budget 2024 and (b) Spring Statement 2025.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Chancellor engages regularly with the OBR including in preparation for fiscal events. As the Government’s independent official forecaster, the OBR has full discretion over the judgements underpinning its forecasts.

In the OBR's March Economic and Fiscal Outlook, the OBR included two scenarios for trend productivity, reflecting both upside and downside risks.