Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps he is taking to to ensure the accuracy of his Department's headcount and payroll data.

DBT verifies headcount monthly through commissioning each business area to review employee records, check leaver processing and performs quality assurance to reconcile any data issues.

DBT ensures accuracy of payroll data from our shared service provider (UKSBS) through monthly reviews and control account reconciliations. DBT also:

• monitors UKSBS’s performance against KPIs monthly and has representation on governance boards.
• ensures segregation of duties and approval/authorisation controls where we have administrative responsibility.
• undertakes comparative analytics and queries movements outside our understanding of operations.
• Submits Annual Report & Accounts to NAO, who sample-test payroll data and report any errors.