Asked by: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many civil servants in her Department have a criminal conviction.
Answered by Damian Hinds - Minister of State (Education)
The department does not collect or hold information on the criminal convictions of its civil servants.
The department does require that, prior to commencing employment, individuals have cleared the Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). This includes a check for live convictions and is the minimum level of clearance for all people working across the Civil Service. These checks are also carried out for existing civil servants moving into the department.
If checks highlight convictions, the department will consider the appointment if a conviction relates to any of the following: life sentences, arson, sexual offences, hate and terror offences, the department will also consider the specific offence against the nature of the business, i.e., a conviction for fraud may rule you out for a finance role (the department also undertakes an internal fraud database check, which identifies civil servants who have been dismissed for committing internal fraud, or who would have been dismissed had they not resigned).
The department is engaged in the ‘Civil Service Prison Leavers’ scheme but has not yet made any appointments. This scheme ensures that if an individual is a prison leaver, then having a criminal conviction is not a barrier to joining the Civil Service. The department only asks about criminal convictions once a job offer has been made and excepted and the BPSS checks completed.
The department expects its civil servants to abide by the Civil Service Code of Conduct and the departmental standards of behaviour. Employees must inform their manager if they are arrested, are charged and released, refused bail, or convicted of any criminal offence. If they fail to do so, the department will take disciplinary action for non-disclosure.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the average response time to subject access requests was by their Department in the latest period for which data is available; and if they will make an assessment of the adequacy of that response time.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department measures whether a subject access request (SAR) received did or did not receive a response within the legal deadline. It is, therefore, not possible to report on actual clearance time averages. The legal deadline is within one calendar month, or three months if deemed complex. For quarter one, 2023/24 performance for completion within timeframe was 99%.
Asked by: Julian Knight (Independent - Solihull)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she is taking steps to ensure that staff in her Department who are under investigation for alleged misconduct are not named before those allegations are proven.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department's policies follow the Civil Service Human Resources' wider model discipline policy. This makes clear that disciplinary matters are strictly confidential. This sits alongside a separate Whistleblowing/Raising a Concern Policy in line with the Public Interest Disclosure Act 1998.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of appointment of Regional Department for Education Directors.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Regional Directors (RDs) are Senior Civil Servants who act on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education and are held to account by the Director General for Regions Group. They work locally across children’s social care, special educational needs and disabilities, schools and area based programmes to improve outcomes for children, families and pupils.
Recruitment to RD posts is managed by the Department’s existing internal recruitment teams. There is no additional cost to the public purse from their appointments. The salaries of RDs can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/disclosure-of-scs-posts-and-salary-information.
Asked by: Alberto Costa (Conservative - South Leicestershire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to provide funding for improving the mental health of 18-25 year olds in further or higher education; and whether it is his policy to support the introduction of legislation to make it compulsory for universities and colleges to (a) record suicides and (b) facilitate joined up monitoring of mental health of young people in further and higher education.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Every student death is a tragedy. The government is committed to doing all we can to prevent these devastating events, which we know have a profound and lasting impact on family and friends.
Whilst we do not plan to legislate higher education (HE) and further education (FE) providers to publicly record suicide numbers, this department does believe it is important to understand the overall trends in HE suicides and share best practice when tragedy does occur. This is why we asked the Office of National Statistics (ONS) to publish an updated linked data analysis on HE suicides. The ONS published the refreshed dataset and analysis on 31 May 2022, which included HE student deaths by suicide from the 2016/17 to 2019/20 academic years, and this can be found here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/deaths/articles/estimatingsuicideamonghighereducationstudentsenglandandwalesexperimentalstatistics/2017to2020.
In order to better support student mental health, especially with regards to the transition between school or college into HE, the department has asked the Office for Students to distribute £15 million of funding to HE providers in 2023/24 to support student mental health, including providing additional support for transitions from school or college to university, with a particular focus on providing counselling services for students. Funding has already supported 32 providers to actively participate in groups in the seven NHS regions to explore more formal partnership working, with the ultimate aim of closing any gaps in mental health provision for students.
To support the development and implementation of a whole college approach to mental health and wellbeing, the department is giving all colleges in England access to senior mental health leads training by 2025. We are also providing record funding for children and young people’s mental health support in the NHS long term plan, through which we are investing at least an additional £2.3 billion a year above 2018/19 levels into mental health services in England by March 2024. This funding will enable an additional 345,000 people under the age of 25 to get the mental health support they need.
The department also recognises that early intervention is critical to prevent the progression and escalation of mental health issues. For this reason, we are introducing Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs) in schools and colleges. These teams offer support to young people experiencing common mental health issues and facilitate smoother access to external specialist support.
An important step towards HE providers delivering mental health support is student disclosure of mental health conditions. It is vital that students disclose their mental health conditions to their HE provider, so that they can be supported, rather than suffering in silence.
Students are actively encouraged to declare a mental health condition when they apply for university via UCAS. Prospective students can enter any needs related to their mental health difficulty, which is then passed on to the course providers so they can consider additional support, including support prior to commencing the course.
The department supports the Suicide Safer Universities framework, led by Universities UK and Papyrus, which can be found at: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/suicide-safer-universities. As well as supporting universities to prevent student suicides and support students and families after the death of a student, this framework includes additional guidance on information sharing and postvention guidance (actions after a death by suspected suicide), which can be found here: https://www.universitiesuk.ac.uk/what-we-do/policy-and-research/publications/features/suicide-safer-universities/sharing-information.
Asked by: Helen Hayes (Labour - Dulwich and West Norwood)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has sought to (a) refuse freedom of information requests and (b) prevent other forms of public disclosure of any matters relating to the involvement of Koru Kids in policy development.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
I can re-assure the hon. Member for Dulwich and West Norwood that all Freedom of Information requests are handled with due process, in line with the statutory provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. I refer the hon. Member to the answer of 11 May 2023 to questions 181438 and 182354.
Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprenticeship places (a) became available and (b) were filled in the fishing industry in each year of the last 10 years.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Education is a devolved matter, and the response outlines the information for England only.
The department does not hold or publish data on the number of apprenticeship places that become available in specific industries each year. However, the number of starts and achievements on apprenticeships within the ‘fishing and aquaculture’ industry in England are published.
Starts figures are available from the 2012/13 academic year here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/69bfd6b1-e5cf-4c81-4465-08db462637b9. Achievement data is available from the 2018/19 academic year here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/ec714288-32ea-4047-4466-08db462637b9. The most recent data relates to the 2020/21 academic year. These figures are small and have been suppressed for disclosure control (using c) when less than five.
Asked by: Layla Moran (Liberal Democrat - Oxford West and Abingdon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many (a) non-disclosure and (b) other confidentiality agreements relating to (i) employment, (ii) bullying, (iii) misconduct and (iii) harassment cases have been agreed by their Department in each year since 1 January 2010; and how much money from the public purse has been spent on (A) legal costs and (B) financial settlements for such agreements in each year since 1 January 2010.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has not used non-disclosure or other confidentiality agreements with current or former employees from 2014 onwards.
The Government is clear that confidentiality clauses should not be used to prevent staff from raising or discussing allegations of bullying, harassment, or discrimination.
The Department did enter into some such agreements between 2010 and 2013. The table below shows the number of such agreements and the financial settlements agreed in each financial year.
Financial Year | Number of agreements | Cost of settlements |
2010/11 | Fewer than 10 | £35,750 |
2011/12 | Fewer than 10 | £117,398 |
2012/13 | Fewer than 10 | £122,885 |
The Department does not hold information on the legal costs during that period.
Asked by: Bridget Phillipson (Labour - Houghton and Sunderland South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to the test and learn exercise for local authority multi-academy trusts announced in May 2022, which local authorities (a) submitted a registration of interest and (b) have been invited to participate in the test and learn exercise.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The Department has received 29 registrations of interest from local authorities interested in establishing a Multi-Academy Trust through a test-and-learn exercise. The Department is withholding the release of the names of the local authorities who submitted a registration of interest, as it has previously applied a Freedom of Information Act 2000 exemption to this information, referring to Section 35(1)(a), which relates to the formulation and development of government policy.
The Department undertook a public interest test as required by the Act and concluded that not disclosing the information outweighed the public interest in disclosure.
The Department will publish the names of the successful applications for the test-and-learn in due course.
Asked by: Sarah Olney (Liberal Democrat - Richmond Park)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how many job vacancies there are in each Government (a) department and (b) agency.
Answered by Heather Wheeler
As at 8am on 19 July, there are 3,349 adverts for 10,409 total postings advertised on the Civil Service Jobs website. The below table shows vacancies and posts by department.
Department | Agency (if applicable) | Adverts Live | Total Posts Live |
Ministry of Defence | Ministry of Defence | 597 | 1,199 |
HM Prison & Probation Service | HM Prison & Probation Service | 519 | 3,480 |
HM Revenue and Customs | HM Revenue and Customs | 243 | 504 |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Internal) | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (Internal) | 230 | 262 |
UK Health Security Agency | UK Health Security Agency | 112 | 175 |
Home Office | Home Office | 107 | 990 |
Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy | Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy | 86 | 164 |
Ministry of Justice | Ministry of Justice | 82 | 206 |
Department for Work and Pensions | Department for Work and Pensions | 76 | 396 |
Cabinet Office | Cabinet Office | 50 | 60 |
Department for International Trade | Department for International Trade | 50 | 61 |
Department of Health and Social Care | Department of Health and Social Care | 48 | 54 |
Office for National Statistics | Office for National Statistics | 47 | 149 |
Department for Education | Department for Education | 45 | 71 |
Defence Science and Technology Laboratory | Defence Science and Technology Laboratory | 43 | 203 |
Crown Prosecution Service | Crown Prosecution Service | 39 | 82 |
Health and Safety Executive | Health and Safety Executive | 38 | 63 |
HM Courts and Tribunals Service | HM Courts and Tribunals Service | 38 | 297 |
OFGEM | OFGEM | 37 | 57 |
Natural England | Natural England | 36 | 82 |
Scottish Government | Scottish Government | 34 | 43 |
Department for Transport | Department for Transport | 30 | 32 |
Forestry Commission | Forestry Commission | 26 | 28 |
HM Treasury | HM Treasury | 26 | 31 |
Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency | Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency | 24 | 36 |
House of Commons | House of Commons | 23 | 32 |
Social Security Scotland | Social Security Scotland | 22 | 70 |
Government Digital Service | Government Digital Service | 20 | 30 |
Insolvency Service | Insolvency Service | 20 | 34 |
Homes England | Homes England | 19 | 28 |
Government Legal Department | Government Legal Department | 17 | 146 |
DEFRA | Food Standards Agency | 16 | 20 |
Government Commercial Function | Government Commercial Function | 16 | 29 |
Care Quality Commission | Care Quality Commission | 16 | 65 |
Forestry Commission - Forest Research | Forestry Commission - Forest Research | 16 | 16 |
Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities | 15 | 25 |
Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport | 15 | 16 |
College of Policing | College of Policing | 15 | 44 |
UK Hydrographic Office | UK Hydrographic Office | 15 | 49 |
Valuation Office Agency | Valuation Office Agency | 14 | 130 |
Pensions Regulator | Pensions Regulator | 13 | 16 |
Met Office | Met Office | 13 | 23 |
Welsh Government | Welsh Government | 13 | 56 |
National Crime Agency | National Crime Agency | 13 | 144 |
The Money and Pensions Service | The Money and Pensions Service | 13 | 18 |
Government Property Agency | Government Property Agency | 12 | 29 |
DEFRA | Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs | 12 | 13 |
Legal Aid Agency | Legal Aid Agency | 11 | 29 |
Historic Environment Scotland | Historic Environment Scotland | 10 | 10 |
HM Land Registry | HM Land Registry | 10 | 18 |
Information Commissioner's Office | Information Commissioner's Office | 10 | 19 |
FCDO Services | FCDO Services | 10 | 10 |
Crown Commercial Service | Crown Commercial Service | 9 | 14 |
Office for Students | Office for Students | 9 | 20 |
Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills | Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills | 9 | 12 |
Disclosure & Barring Service | Disclosure & Barring Service | 8 | 16 |
UK Export Finance | UK Export Finance | 8 | 11 |
Department for Transport | Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency | 8 | 20 |
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew | Royal Botanic Gardens Kew | 8 | 9 |
House of Lords | House of Lords | 8 | 9 |
Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation | Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation | 7 | 7 |
Companies House | Companies House | 7 | 7 |
Marine Management Organisation | Marine Management Organisation | 7 | 9 |
Government Office for Science | Government Office for Science | 7 | 28 |
GCHQ | GCHQ | 7 | 22 |
UK Space Agency | UK Space Agency | 7 | 7 |
Joint Nature Conservation Committee | Joint Nature Conservation Committee | 6 | 6 |
Student Loans Company | Student Loans Company | 6 | 14 |
Department for Transport | Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency | 6 | 92 |
Department for Transport | Maritime and Coastguard Agency | 6 | 10 |
Serious Fraud Office | Serious Fraud Office | 5 | 9 |
Office of the Public Guardian | Office of the Public Guardian | 5 | 12 |
Trade Remedies Authority | Trade Remedies Authority | 5 | 5 |
Planning Inspectorate | Planning Inspectorate | 5 | 7 |
Cross Departmental Opportunities | Cross Departmental Opportunities | 5 | 9 |
UK Statistics Authority | UK Statistics Authority | 4 | 4 |
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service | Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service | 4 | 5 |
DEFRA | Rural Payments Agency | 4 | 5 |
Northern Ireland Office | Northern Ireland Office | 4 | 6 |
Forestry and Land Scotland | Forestry and Land Scotland | 4 | 4 |
Intellectual Property Office | Intellectual Property Office | 4 | 4 |
Consumer Scotland | Consumer Scotland | 4 | 5 |
Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education | Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education | 4 | 4 |
Office of Rail and Road | Office of Rail and Road | 4 | 5 |
Government Statistical Service | Government Statistical Service | 4 | 40 |
Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre | Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre | 4 | 10 |
Charity Commission | Charity Commission | 4 | 7 |
Independent Office for Police Conduct | Independent Office for Police Conduct | 4 | 5 |
Independent Monitoring Authority | Independent Monitoring Authority | 3 | 3 |
UK Research and Innovation | UK Research and Innovation | 3 | 3 |
Government Internal Audit Agency | Government Internal Audit Agency | 3 | 4 |
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office | 3 | 7 |
Medical Research Council | Medical Research Council | 3 | 3 |
Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority | Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority | 3 | 3 |
The National Lottery Community Fund | The National Lottery Community Fund | 3 | 3 |
DEFRA | Animal and Plant Health Agency | 3 | 3 |
Defence Electronics & Components Agency | Defence Electronics & Components Agency | 3 | 3 |
Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service | Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service | 3 | 3 |
Gambling Commission | Gambling Commission | 3 | 3 |
Registers of Scotland | Registers of Scotland | 3 | 4 |
Competition & Markets Authority | Competition & Markets Authority | 2 | 3 |
Innovate UK | Innovate UK | 2 | 3 |
National Savings and Investments | National Savings and Investments | 2 | 2 |
Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman | Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman | 2 | 2 |
Housing Ombudsman Service | Housing Ombudsman Service | 2 | 2 |
MI5 | MI5 | 2 | 2 |
DEFRA | Veterinary Medicines Directorate | 2 | 2 |
Office for Nuclear Regulation | Office for Nuclear Regulation | 2 | 2 |
Ofwat (Water Services Regulation Authority) | Ofwat (Water Services Regulation Authority) | 2 | 3 |
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom | 2 | 2 |
Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council | Scottish Further and Higher Education Funding Council | 2 | 10 |
Security Industry Authority | Security Industry Authority | 2 | 3 |
Office for Environmental Protection | Office for Environmental Protection | 1 | 2 |
Equality and Human Rights Commission | Equality and Human Rights Commission | 1 | 1 |
Home Office | Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services | 1 | 1 |
The National Archives | The National Archives | 1 | 1 |
Valuation Tribunal Service | Valuation Tribunal Service | 1 | 1 |
DEFRA | Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science | 1 | 2 |
MI6 - Secret Intelligence Service | MI6 - Secret Intelligence Service | 1 | 1 |
Government Actuary's Department | Government Actuary's Department | 1 | 5 |
Environmental Standards Scotland | Environmental Standards Scotland | 1 | 1 |
Scottish Forestry | Scottish Forestry | 1 | 1 |
Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority | Human Fertilisation & Embryology Authority | 1 | 1 |
UK Debt Management Office | UK Debt Management Office | 1 | 1 |
Parole Board | Parole Board | 1 | 1 |
Criminal Cases Review Commission | Criminal Cases Review Commission | 1 | 1 |
Youth Justice Board | Youth Justice Board | 1 | 6 |
Building Digital UK (BDUK) | Building Digital UK (BDUK) | 1 | 1 |
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence | National Institute for Health and Care Excellence | 1 | 1 |
| Grand Total | 3,349 | 10,409 |