Cabinet Office
Question: How many civil service staff worked on Whitehall in (a) January 2024 and (b) the latest period for which data is available.
Georgia Gould:
Civil Service Headquarters (HQ) occupancy data is collected and published on GOV.UK for all HQ buildings of Whitehall Departments, Office for Scotland, Office for Wales and Northern Ireland Office. Post-election period, publications now happen on a quarterly basis.
Data for the latest period for which data is available can be found here.
Question: What the cost to the public purse is of the UK Commission on Covid Commemoration.
Nick Thomas-Symonds:
The UK Commission on Covid Commemoration was established on 21 July 2022 to secure a broad consensus from across the whole of the United Kingdom on how to commemorate the COVID-19 pandemic and mark this distinctive period in our history at a UK and community level. The Commission submitted its report to the Government in March 2023 and came to a close on 31 March 2023. Eleven Commissioners were appointed to serve on the Commission. The Commissioners were not remunerated.
The Commission spent £9,942 excl VAT. In addition to this, the Commission was supported by a team of four Cabinet Office officials, who were the Secretariat to the Commission and managed its budget.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether he has made an assessment of introducing performance related pay reviews on all senior leadership positions in the Civil Service.
Georgia Gould:
The performance management process for Senior Civil Servants already provides the opportunity for performance related pay to recognise high performance.
Question: What the cost to the public purse is of the covid-19 inquiry; if he will make an estimate of the anticipated total cost of the inquiry; and whether the inquiry is running to budget.
Nick Thomas-Symonds:
It is important that lessons are learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic and the response to it. The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is independent of government and it is right that we allow the Chair to continue her important work. The Chair is under a statutory obligation to avoid unnecessary costs in the Inquiry’s work, and she has been clear in her intention to complete her work as quickly and efficiently as possible. Quarterly financial reports are published every quarter on the official UK Covid-19 Inquiry website.
Question: What percentage of the food served at receptions in Number 10 Downing Street is domestically produced.
Georgia Gould:
10 Downing Street hosts a variety of events and catering is tailored accordingly, often using events to showcase British produce.
Question: How many days were lost to strike action in the Civil Service in each of the last five years.
Georgia Gould:
This information is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. Each department is responsible for the management of their workforce.
Question: How many civil servants earn (a) over £100,000 and (b) more than the Prime Minister.
Georgia Gould:
Civil Service Statistics (Table 35) provides information on the number of civil servants earning over £100,000 and in other bandings. The latest information can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2024
The previous administration did not publish a 2023 list. The Cabinet Office will publish this in due course following the usual process.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, whether his Department has made an assessment of the (a) costs and (b) merits of each of the restrictions during the covid-19 pandemic.
The previous Government spent up to £400 billion on pandemic related interventions and programmes including 11.7 million employees that were furloughed through the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, at a cost of £70 billion. 2.9m people on the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme received grants at a cost of £28bn.
The Chancellor has announced that she will appoint a Covid Corruption Commissioner, fulfilling a manifesto commitment. The main focus of the Commissioner will be pandemic PPE contracts. They will make sure everything that can be done, has been done, to get the public purse what it is owed.
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has now been established. As set out in its Terms of Reference, the Inquiry will examine, consider and report on preparations and the response to the pandemic. In doing so, the inquiry will help identify lessons learned. The Inquiry published its Module 1 report, focussing on resilience and preparedness in July 2024. The government will carefully consider the Inquiry’s findings and recommendations, and will respond within six months.
Question: How many positions in his Department included (a) diversity, (b) inclusion, (c) equity and (d) equality in their job title in each of the last five years; and what the total cost of the salaries of each such job was in each of those years.
Cabinet Office does not routinely collate information on specific words within job titles and collating this information would come at a disproportionate cost.