Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the press release Internship Scheme To Get More Working Class Students Into Civil Service, published 1 August 2025, and the Written Answer by Baroness Anderson of Stoke-on-Trent on 5 February (HL13977), whether the occupation of (a) a Minister of the Crown, or (b) the Prime Minister, would be classified as working class for the purpose of determining the socio-economic background of a parent of an applicant to the Civil Service Summer Internship Programme.

An applicant’s socio-economic background is determined by their responses to questions designed by the ONS. For questions regarding parental occupation, this is at the age the candidate was 14. In line with other schemes of this nature across the public and private sector, the Cabinet Office uses self-certification for the socio-economic data of applicants. This is the same approach taken under the programme's predecessor - the Summer Diversity Internship Programme - from 2010 to 2023.