Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if the Prime Minister will ask the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Interests to investigate the appointment of officials to the civil service without open and fair competition where Ministers may have previously benefited from (a) donations and (b) donations in-kind relating to those individuals.

As was the case under the previous Government, where over 9,000 such exceptions were used in the year ending March 2023, exceptions are a long-established part of bringing talent and expertise into the Civil Service. Often this is to fulfil specialist, short term or urgent requirements. Where appointments are made by exception to the principle of fair and open competition, in all such cases, the employing department must be satisfied that the use of the relevant exceptions route was justified and that the individuals in question could uphold the values of the Civil Service Code.