Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the annual budget was for the (a) Pensions Regulator and (b) Health and Safety Executive in each year since 2005.
Answered by Torsten Bell - Parliamentary Secretary (HM Treasury)
Both the Health and Safety Executive and the Pensions Regulator are funded from a mix of sources. These include direct government funding, levies on industry (in the case of the Pensions Regulator) and from charging or cost recoveries.
The full spend, and financial breakdowns, for these bodies by year can be found in their respective Annual Report and Accounts. This information is available in the public domain via The Pensions Regulator and Health and Safety Executive respective ARAs. They can be found using the following links:
The Pensions Regulator (see Financial Review sections)
HSE Annual Reports and Accounts (see statement of Cashflows section)
[ARCHIVED CONTENT] Reports produced by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE)
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question
To ask the Minister for Women and Equalities, with reference to the Answer of 23 February 2024 to Question 13812 on Cabinet Office: Staff, how many staff in the Equality Hub have job titles which include the words (a) equality, (b) diversity, (c) inclusion, (d) gender, (e) LGBT and (f) race.
Answered by Olivia Bailey - Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Department for Education) (Equalities)
The Office for Equality and Opportunity (formerly the Equality Hub) currently has 180 staff members. The Office for Equality and Opportunity leads on Government policy in these areas and is organised into sub-teams. The sub-team names themselves include some of the requested keywords, though individual job titles are generic. The relevant sub-teams and headcounts are:
| Sub team | Headcount |
| OEO Central | 63 |
| LGBT Policy | 18 |
| Equality Framework Team | 19 |
| Social Mobility Commission | 20 |
| Women's Equality Division | 23 |
| Disability Unit | 25 |
| Race Equality Unit | 12 |
Some of the keywords (equality, gender, LGBT and race) are contained within some of the sub-team names but not all staff members will have a job title which contains one of the defined keywords. Please also note that the Office for Equality and Opportunity does not lead on Civil Service or Cabinet Office diversity and inclusion matters and so these words are not included in job titles.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, 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 Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
DSIT’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.
Dismissals in relation to probation failure since DSITs inception occurred during years 2023-25 and totalled 2 members of staff.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, pursuant to the Answer of 29 April 2025 to Question 45822 on Ministry of Justice: Equality, for what reason his Department no longer collects that information centrally.
Answered by Jake Richards - Assistant Whip
The Ministry of Justice does not routinely collate information on specific words in job titles as there is no business or legal requirement to do so. Further information on staffing can be found in the Department's annual report and accounts.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, 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 Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
All DCMS staff are subject to regular performance reviews. Under performance management procedures, reviews should take place monthly, quarterly and at the end of each financial year. We hold data for managing poor performance cases these are provided below for the last 5 years:
Year | No. of cases | FTE at April | % of total FTE |
2020/2021 | 0 | 1769.8 | - |
2021/2022 | 14 | 1978.8 | 0.7% |
2022/2023 | 24 | 1668.8 | 1.3% |
2023/2024 | 13 | 943.1 | 1.3% |
2024/2025 | 10 | 1024.6 | 0.9% |
Of the 61 performance management cases, 11 employees were either dismissed or resigned. We cannot provide the number of performance cases that resulted in either resignation or dismissal for each of the past five years because doing so would breach the Data Protection Act. This is due to the risk of identifying individual cases in years where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.
DCMS does not hold performance data in regards to its arms-length bodies and agencies.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, 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 Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the last five years 43 members of staff were subject to management procedures during their probationary period. Of these cases 13 employees did not retain their employment and 6 employees were subject to an extension of their probationary period.
We cannot provide the number of staff who did not retain their employment or had their probationary period extended. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
In the past 5 years 7 employment tribunals have been lodged against our department. 5 of these claims were under the Equality Act.
We cannot provide the number of claims broken down by year or those that were related to unfair dismissal or claims under the Equality Act 2010. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, 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 of those cases was performance rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left following such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.
Answered by Ian Murray - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
Organisation | 2024–25 | 2023–24 | 2022–23 | 2021–22 | 2020–21 |
DSIT | 1,765 staff | 1,349 staff | - | - | - |
Unsatisfactory | 42 (2.4%) | 37 (2.7%) |
|
|
|
Left DSIT after rating | 6 (0.3%) | 1 (0.1%) |
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BDUK | ~270 staff |
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|
|
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Unsatisfactory | 5 staff | 6 staff | 5 staff | 2 staff | 1 staff |
Left BDUK | 4 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
UKSA | 323 staff | 313 staff |
| 251 staff | 218 staff |
Unsatisfactory | - | 1 | - | 2 | 0 |
Left UKSA | - | 0 | - | 0 | 0 |
Met Office | 2,320 reviews | 2,308 reviews | 2,278 reviews | 2,120 reviews | 2,053 reviews |
Unsatisfactory | 1 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
DSIT – Formed in 2023, data only from 2023–24 onwards; all staff in scope receive quarterly performance reviews.
DSIT’s Executive Agencies:
Building Digital UK (BDUK) - Quarterly performance reviews required. Became DSIT Directorate 1/11/2025.
UK Space Agency (UKSA) - Quarterly reviews required.
Met Office - No data on staff leaving after rating.
Intellectual Property Office (IPO) - No formal ratings; poor performance action applied as necessary
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many people work in the diversity and inclusion team in her Department's human resources department.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's total staff headcount is approximately 17,500 employees. The number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff who cover diversity and inclusion issues among their wider human resources responsibilities is currently 2.6.
Asked by: Neil O'Brien (Conservative - Harborough, Oadby and Wigston)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many people in her Department have equality, diversity and inclusion responsibilities.
Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office's total staff headcount is approximately 17,500 employees. The number of full time equivalent (FTE) staff who cover diversity and inclusion issues among their wider human resources responsibilities is currently 2.6.