Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, how many settlement payments her Department issued following claims of (a) bullying, (b) harassment and (c) discrimination in the (i) 2019-20, (ii) 2020-21, (iii) 2021-22 and (iv) 2022-23 financial years.

The Department for Business and Trade issued less than 5 settlement payments following discrimination claims in the financial year 2021-22. We withhold the exact figures under Section 40(2) (Personal information) of the Data Protection Act.

No settlement payments following bullying, harassment and/or discrimination claims were issued in the other years requested.

Under the Declaration on Government Reform, we “guarantee fairness at work, take a zero tolerance approach to bullying, discrimination and harassment, and grow a culture that welcomes challenge and demands rigour in how we assess delivery for citizens.” Settlement Agreements are not used to prevent colleagues from speaking out.