Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many vacancies in each Government department are vacant due to a lack of applicants with the appropriate skills.
Answered by Michael Ellis
The number of vacancies in each government department currently vacant due to a lack of applicants with the appropriate skills is not held centrally.
Civil servants are employed by individual departments which are responsible for setting their terms and conditions of employment in accordance with the Civil Service Management Code. Departments will, therefore, be able to provide further information on the status of their vacancies.
Asked by: Jack Dromey (Labour - Birmingham, Erdington)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2021 to Question 45090, on Ministry of Defence Guard Service: Conditions of Employment, how many of the 20 applications were made by MGS staff seeking promotion.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The Civil Service recruitment and selection process is anonymous. The recruiting Line Manager only gains more information on the status of individual candidates should they be selected for an interview. It is therefore not possible to ascertain the number of MGS employees who applied for promotion during the referenced recruitment campaign.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2021 to Question 45126, Ministry of Defence Guard Service: Conditions of Employment, what conclusions were drawn from the comparative assessment of how OMEC contracts compare with those in the private sector security industry.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
External benchmarking completed in 2019 concluded that the Operational MGS Employment Contract OMEC total cash package is between 7% and 32% higher than the equivalent private sector salary. This does not take into account access to the Civil Service defined benefit pension scheme.
Asked by: Dan Jarvis (Labour - Barnsley Central)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what comparative assessment he has made of the (a) pay, (b) working hours and (c) other conditions of employment for civilian guards at UK military bases on (i) Operational MGS Employment Contracts and (ii) previous contracts.
Answered by Leo Docherty - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence) (Minister for the Armed Forces)
The pay, working hours and other conditions of employment under the Operational MGS Employment Contract (OMEC) have been compared against previous MOD contracts, as well as the private sector security industry. The comparative assessment has concluded that:
While OMEC conditions are predicated on full time employees working a 48-hour working week (gross), compared with 42 hours (gross) on legacy contracts to accommodate a change in shift duration, the rostered working patterns developed were subject to Trade Union consultation and validated against Working Time Regulations.
Asked by: Imran Hussain (Labour - Bradford East)
Question to the Home Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the oral contribution of the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of 27 April 2021, Official Report, column 86WH, on the Government's policy on the inappropriate use by some employers of fire and rehire as a negotiation tactic, what steps their Department has taken to (a) investigate and (b) discourage the use of fire and rehire negotiation tactics by their Department's executive non-departmental public bodies; and what steps they have taken to communicate the Government's policy on those practices to those bodies.
Answered by Kevin Foster
The Government has been clear it expects employers to treat employees fairly and in the spirit of partnership, working with trade unions, where relevant, constructively. This applies to Home Office sponsored NDPBs as much as to any other employer.
Home Office sponsored NDPBs that employ civil servants must set their terms and conditions of employment in accordance with the rules of the Civil Service Management Code. Bodies covered by the Code are expected to communicate novel and contentious workforce proposals to the Cabinet Office as made clear by paragraph 4.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2021 to Question 15260 on Civil Service Agencies: Standards, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that fire and rehire is not being used as a negotiating tactic in his Department; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has been clear that using an approach which threatens to ‘fire and rehire’ staff is not acceptable as a negotiation tactic. HM Treasury is committed to maintaining the reputation of the Civil Service as a good employer and does not use this approach as a negotiation tactic.
Government departments are responsible for ensuring that terms and conditions of employment for civil servants are in accordance with the rules of Civil Service Management Code. The Civil Service Management Code only binds organisations that employ civil servants. Departments covered by the Civil Service Management Code are obliged to submit to the Cabinet Office workforce proposals or arrangements which are contentious or raise questions of propriety (which is made clear in paragraph 4).
Our Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) are responsible for managing their own staff but are governed by the Framework document that sets out the remit and governance arrangements for each ALB. ALBs are also governed by the Civil Service Management Code if they employ Civil Servants.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2021 to Question 15260 on Civil Service Agencies: Standards, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that fire and rehire is not being used as a negotiating tactic in UK Government Investments; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has been clear that using an approach which threatens to ‘fire and rehire’ staff is not acceptable as a negotiation tactic. HM Treasury is committed to maintaining the reputation of the Civil Service as a good employer and does not use this approach as a negotiation tactic.
Government departments are responsible for ensuring that terms and conditions of employment for civil servants are in accordance with the rules of Civil Service Management Code. The Civil Service Management Code only binds organisations that employ civil servants. Departments covered by the Civil Service Management Code are obliged to submit to the Cabinet Office workforce proposals or arrangements which are contentious or raise questions of propriety (which is made clear in paragraph 4).
Our Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) are responsible for managing their own staff but are governed by the Framework document that sets out the remit and governance arrangements for each ALB. ALBs are also governed by the Civil Service Management Code if they employ Civil Servants.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2021 to Question 15260 on Civil Service Agencies: Standards, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that fire and rehire is not being used as a negotiating tactic in UK Asset Resolution Limited; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has been clear that using an approach which threatens to ‘fire and rehire’ staff is not acceptable as a negotiation tactic. HM Treasury is committed to maintaining the reputation of the Civil Service as a good employer and does not use this approach as a negotiation tactic.
Government departments are responsible for ensuring that terms and conditions of employment for civil servants are in accordance with the rules of Civil Service Management Code. The Civil Service Management Code only binds organisations that employ civil servants. Departments covered by the Civil Service Management Code are obliged to submit to the Cabinet Office workforce proposals or arrangements which are contentious or raise questions of propriety (which is made clear in paragraph 4).
Our Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) are responsible for managing their own staff but are governed by the Framework document that sets out the remit and governance arrangements for each ALB. ALBs are also governed by the Civil Service Management Code if they employ Civil Servants.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2021 to Question 15260 on Civil Service Agencies: Standards, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that fire and rehire is not being used as a negotiating tactic in the Royal Mint; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has been clear that using an approach which threatens to ‘fire and rehire’ staff is not acceptable as a negotiation tactic. HM Treasury is committed to maintaining the reputation of the Civil Service as a good employer and does not use this approach as a negotiation tactic.
Government departments are responsible for ensuring that terms and conditions of employment for civil servants are in accordance with the rules of Civil Service Management Code. The Civil Service Management Code only binds organisations that employ civil servants. Departments covered by the Civil Service Management Code are obliged to submit to the Cabinet Office workforce proposals or arrangements which are contentious or raise questions of propriety (which is made clear in paragraph 4).
Our Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) are responsible for managing their own staff but are governed by the Framework document that sets out the remit and governance arrangements for each ALB. ALBs are also governed by the Civil Service Management Code if they employ Civil Servants.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 17 June 2021 to Question 15260 on Civil Service Agencies: Standards, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that fire and rehire is not being used as a negotiating tactic in the Payment Systems Regulator; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Kemi Badenoch - President of the Board of Trade
The Government has been clear that using an approach which threatens to ‘fire and rehire’ staff is not acceptable as a negotiation tactic. HM Treasury is committed to maintaining the reputation of the Civil Service as a good employer and does not use this approach as a negotiation tactic.
Government departments are responsible for ensuring that terms and conditions of employment for civil servants are in accordance with the rules of Civil Service Management Code. The Civil Service Management Code only binds organisations that employ civil servants. Departments covered by the Civil Service Management Code are obliged to submit to the Cabinet Office workforce proposals or arrangements which are contentious or raise questions of propriety (which is made clear in paragraph 4).
Our Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) are responsible for managing their own staff but are governed by the Framework document that sets out the remit and governance arrangements for each ALB. ALBs are also governed by the Civil Service Management Code if they employ Civil Servants.