Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many former Conservative Members of Parliament who were defeated at the 2017 general election and who now work in his Department were appointed after a publicly advertised and open recruitment process.

The Department does not hold central information on the former roles of any its employees or their declared political interests. All recruitment within the Department is conducted in line with the Civil Service Commissioner’s recruitment principles and all civil servants adhere to the Civil Service code.