Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what information his Department holds on the amount of sick leave taken by civil servants for mental health issues in (a) his Department and (b) the civil service, in each of the last two years for which data is available.
Answered by Oliver Dowden
The Civil Service recognises that good workforce health and wellbeing is fundamental to delivering effective public services. We support people so that they can remain at work where possible and to return as soon as they are ready following sickness absence.
The Cabinet Office holds information on the amount of sick leave taken and the reasons for sick leave taken for (a) all of the civil servants in the Department who have recorded absence due to sickness. This includes sick leave for mental health issues that in each of the calendar years 2016 and 2017 amounted to less than 1 day of absence per staff year.
Statistics on sick leave taken by staff in the Cabinet Office are published quarterly in arrears at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-absence-data .
The Cabinet Office collates data on sickness absence from (b) civil service departments and agencies on a quarterly basis in order to understand variation across departments and overall civil service trends. The data can be broken down across a range of types of illness including mental ill-health. The latest data held covers the years leading up to and including Q2 2017 (July 2016 - June 2017). In this period there was an average of 1.7 days per staff year of absence due to mental ill health across the civil service. In the previous year (July 2015-June 2016) there was an average of 1.8 days per staff year of absence due to mental ill health across the civil service.
The latest Civil Service sickness absence data for Q1 2017 was published on 14 December 2017 and is available online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-sickness-absence .
The Civil Service continues to review how it can actively manage all sickness absence and improve health and wellbeing at work even further, ensuring that it consistently delivers the high level of service that the public demand and expect.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of public appointments were of ethnic minority candidates in (a) 2015 and (b) 2016.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Statistics on public appointments are published annually by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Statistics on Public Appointments are published annually by the Commissioner for Public Appointments and the data can be found at: http://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/statistical-reports/.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many appointees to (a) executive non-departmental and (b) other public bodies declared political activity for the Conservative Party in each of the last five years.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Political activity of all public appointments is collected and published by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The statistical methodology has changed since 2014-15, and the figures are not directly comparative over the last five years.
Political affiliation as percentage of total number of public appointments:
Date | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dem | Other |
2011-12 | 1.8% | 10.2% | 0.6% | 0.5% |
2012-13 | 3.3% | 3% | 1% | 1.7% |
2013-14 | 1.5% | 2.3% | 0.4% | 0.7% |
2014-15 | 1.2% | 1.7% | 0.5% | 1.1% |
Political affiliation as percentage of those who answered the question on political activity:
Date | Conservative | Labour | Lib Dem | Other |
2015-16 | 6.2% | 5.0% | 2.2% | 1.7% |
NB. These figures are not comparative with the previous table: the rise is due to the different methodology.
Overall, 94% of appointees in 2015-16 declared no political activity. By contrast, the political activity declaration rates under the last Labour Government were 10.2% in 2008-09, 10.4% in 2007-08 and 15.8% in 2006-07.
Being involved in a political party is a healthy part of civic democracy, and those interested in politics are often the same people who will be interested in public service. Individuals are appointed on the basis of their skills and experience, not their party background.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will list the proportion of chairs who were (a) appointed and (b) re-appointed to public bodies who were (i) female, (ii) from an ethnic minority and (iii) disabled by (A) executive and (B) non-executive body in the last year for which figures are available.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Data on executive body chairs is not held centrally. Data on chairs of non-executive bodies which are public appointments is collected and published by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. The data can be found on the Commissioner’s website at: http://publicappointmentscommissioner.independent.gov.uk/statistical-reports/
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, which members of the Civil Service (a) Board and (b) Corporate Management Board were appointed after 12 July 2016.
Answered by Ben Gummer
There has been one new appointment to the Civil Service Board since 12 July 2016. Tom Scholar joined the Board at the end of July after taking up his position as Permanent Secretary of HM Treasury. The full list of current Board members is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service/about/our-governance
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, what proportion of public appointments were women from (a) 1 January to 12 July 2016 and (b) 13 July 2016 to date.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Statistics on public appointments are published annually by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.
Data published in July 2016 shows that for the financial year 2015/16 a 48.2% of new public appointments were made to women, higher than at any point in the last decade. Data for the financial year 2016/17 will be published by the Commissioner next summer.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 June 2015, HCWS153, on Freedom of Information, whether the terms of reference of the Commission on Freedom of Information will permit it to consider the appropriate scope of the commercial confidentiality exemption under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Matt Hancock
It will be for the independent FOI commission to determine the interpretation of its terms of reference.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 June 2015, HCWS153, on Freedom of Information, whether the Commission on Freedom of Information's terms of reference will permit it to consider the effective application of the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to private companies that are providing under contract any service whose provision is the function of a public authority under section 5(1)(b) of that Act.
Answered by Matt Hancock
It will be for the independent FOI commission to determine the interpretation of its terms of reference.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 June 2015, HCWS153, on Freedom of Information, what plans he has to issue an order under section 4 or 5 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in relation to the Freedom of Information Commission.
Answered by Matt Hancock
As with other temporary review bodies, the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information is not subject to FOIA.
Asked by: Paula Sherriff (Labour - Dewsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Written Statement of 20 June 2015, HCWS153, on Freedom of Information, whether the Freedom of Information Commission is a public authority subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
Answered by Matt Hancock
As with other temporary review bodies, the Independent Commission on Freedom of Information is not subject to FOIA.