Asked by: Claire Hanna (Social Democratic & Labour Party - Belfast South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, when her Department plans to publish its response to the consultation entitled Payment handling by employment agencies in the entertainment, sport and modelling sectors.
Answered by Kevin Hollinrake - Minister of State (Department for Business and Trade)
The government is carefully considering the views and evidence submitted in response to this consultation. The government will publish its summary of responses and next steps in due course.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Andrew Murrison - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
Statistics on Civil Service employment by Department and agency are published by the Office for National Statistics on gov.uk at the following link:
Statistics for Defence and its agencies can be found at Table 9 for each quarter.
It is important to note that the structure of Ministry of Defence has changed significantly since 2011, meaning that figures for that year are not directly comparable.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, with reference his Department's statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by John Glen - Paymaster General and Minister for the Cabinet Office
On 2 October 2023, the Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.
The Civil Service grew in size to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal war in the Ukraine but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.
As part of this Government’s commitment to transparency, my Department publishes workforce statistics each month. Information about staffing levels since 2006 are available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/payroll-costs-and-non-consolidated-pay-data
The data requested can be found at the following links
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Robert Halfon
The data on the number of permanent staff employed by the Department, excluding agencies, in March 2016 is available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable/march2016/psereferencetablesmarch2016.xls. The data for March 2020 is available at: https://www.ons.gov.uk/file?uri=/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/datasets/publicsectoremploymentreferencetable/march2020/datasets.xlsx. Data for 2011 includes agencies due to reporting arrangements in 2011. This is available at: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20150905000144mp_/http:/www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/pse/public-sector-employment/q1-2011/stb-q1-2011.pdf.
The Department’s resources are routinely reviewed to ensure the Department has the capabilities and capacity required to respond to changing priorities and deliver efficiently and effectively.
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:
To ask the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Andrew Griffith - Minister of State (Department for Science, Innovation and Technology)
On 2 October 2023, The Chancellor announced an immediate cap on civil servant headcount across Whitehall to stop any further expansion, increase efficiencies and boost productivity.
The Civil Service grew in size to manage the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the illegal war in Ukraine but it is right that we reduce the size of the Civil Service over time as we drive up productivity and deliver efficiencies.
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) was formed in 2023, thus data for previous years is unavailable.
Links to the predecessor departments can be found below:
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:
To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for her Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by John Whittingdale
Please refer to the published data at the below links:
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s data is displayed in the below table providing FTE and Headcount figures at the requested dates:
Year | Headcount | FTE |
2011 | 570 | 560 |
2016 | 1210 | 1160 |
2020 | 1280 | 1250 |
Asked by: Emily Thornberry (Labour - Islington South and Finsbury)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, with reference to Cabinet Office statistics on Permanent and temporary civil servants by sex, age band and department: 2023, published on 31 October 2023, how many permanent civil servants excluding agencies worked for his Department on 31 March (a) 2011, (b) 2016 and (c) 2020.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
The Department for Work and Pensions reports its data annually to the Office for National Statistics which is in the public domain and can be found here:
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the adequacy of pay for supply teachers employed through education recruitment agencies.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Schools have the freedom to make staffing decisions that meet their circumstances. This means schools, academies and Local Authorities are responsible for the recruitment of their workforces, including whether to use supply agencies for supply staff.
If a supply teacher is employed by a private employment agency, the agency can decide their salary. As this is a commercial arrangement between the school or Local Authority and the agency, the Department is unable to intervene in matters concerning the terms of their employment or their pay. Supply teachers are free to register with multiple agencies to find the best pay and conditions to meet their own circumstances.
Under the Agency Workers Regulations, an agency supply teacher is entitled to receive the same pay and conditions of employment as teachers employed by the school or the Local Authority after 12 weeks in the same role with the same school or Local Authority. Guidance on the Agency Workers Regulations 2010 is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/agency-workers-regulations-2010-guidance-for-recruiters.
In August 2018, in conjunction with the Crown Commercial Service, the Department for Education launched the agency supply deal. The deal supports schools with getting value for money when hiring agency supply teachers and other temporary staff.
The deal has established a list of preferred suppliers that schools can access, all of which:
Details of the deal can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/deal-for-schools-hiring-supply-teachers-and-agency-workers.
Education is a devolved matter, meaning the devolved administrations set their own policy on supply teacher pay and conditions.
Asked by: Daniel Zeichner (Labour - Cambridge)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether he has made an assessment of the treatment by recruitment agencies of nurses working in social care who were recruited from India.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
We continue to work closely with partners in the Home Office to share concerns and intelligence related to poor practice in the recruitment and employment of overseas workers in the care sector.
All employers of international health and care staff must follow the Code of Practice for the International Recruitment of Health and Social Care Personnel to make sure staff are recruited ethically and are treated with respect.
In addition, the Home Office’s sponsor licence system places clear and binding requirements and obligations on employers looking to recruit and manage overseas workers. The UK Visas and Immigration body has conducted visits and investigations in the sector, following which sponsors have had their licences suspended pending investigation and then revoked.
Asked by: Chi Onwurah (Labour - Newcastle upon Tyne Central)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that Indian migrant workers in the health and social care sector are paid at least the national minimum wage by recruitment agencies.
Answered by Helen Whately - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)
For the Skilled Worker route, which includes health and care roles, international recruits must be paid at least the required minimum salary of £20,960 and £10.75 per hour, whichever is higher. The minimum salary is based on a 37.5-hour week but will need to be higher if the individual is contracted to work more hours. Failure to pay international staff the minimum salary requirement is in breach of United Kingdom immigration law. Illegal employment practices should be reported to the Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority who will investigate fully.
All employers of international health and care staff must follow the Code of Practice for the international recruitment of health and social care personnel in England to make sure staff are recruited ethically and are treated with respect. The code is available at the following link:
Providers should only engage with agencies and other recruiting organisations that are on the Ethical Recruiters List, which is available at the following link:
https://www.nhsemployers.org/articles/ethical-recruiters-list
Organisations on this list have committed to adhering to the Code of Practice.
The Home Office’s sponsor licence system places clear and binding requirements and obligations on employers looking to recruit and manage overseas workers. Sponsors are monitored to ensure that workers are paid appropriately. This includes regular checks with HM Revenue & Customs. Any discrepancies found are investigated and, if appropriate, action is taken against the sponsor.