Heather Wheeler: A total of 660,782 Civil Servants are in receipt of a pension under classic terms. Of those 92,550 are in receipt of a widows pension and; 15,905 a widowers pension. 552,327 are in receipt of the classic pension 50.47% (278,762) of retired Civil Servants in receipt of a classic pension are women. The number of widows and widowers who have had their pensions suspended is given in the...
Heather Wheeler: A total of 660,782 Civil Servants are in receipt of a pension under classic terms. Of those 92,550 are in receipt of a widows pension and; 15,905 a widowers pension. 552,327 are in receipt of the classic pension 50.47% (278,762) of retired Civil Servants in receipt of a classic pension are women. The number of widows and widowers who have had their pensions suspended is given in the...
Heather Wheeler: At this time we are unable to confirm when information on Free School Meals will be available from the April 2022 SCS Database, and whether declaration rates for broader SEB measures will reach acceptable quality thresholds. The Cabinet Office continues to work with departments to increase response rates across socio-economic background measures.
Heather Wheeler: The Cabinet Office publishes results from the Civil Service People Survey on GOV.UK. In addition to the overall results, demographic breakdowns are published. The demographic scores for the 2020 Civil Service People Survey were published on 31 March. This publication included scores for (a) engagement, (b) inclusion, (c) discrimination, and (d) bullying by ethnicity, disability status, gender...
Heather Wheeler: It has not proved possible to respond to the Rt hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.
Heather Wheeler: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 25 April is attached. UKSA response (pdf, 120.9KB)
Heather Wheeler: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 14 April is attached. UKSA response (pdf, 114.3KB)
Heather Wheeler: I would like to update the House on the GOV.UK Verify programme, following the Written Ministerial Statement in April 2021 made by my colleague (the Minister of State for Media, Data, and Digital Infrastructure, Julia Lopez MP). As confirmed in the most recent Spending Review, under the One Login for Government programme, the government is building a single way for citizens to prove their...
Heather Wheeler: The Declaration on Government Reform and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy, 2022-2025, commits the Government to drawing on talent from all backgrounds. Representation is increasing and whilst this trend is positive, we remain committed to improving representation across the broadest range of diversity across our workforce and in particular at our most senior grades. To...
Heather Wheeler: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the hon. Member’s Parliamentary Question of 22 April is attached. UKSA response (pdf, 116.7KB)
Heather Wheeler: Recruitment and retention data covering the period of the public sector pay pause is not currently held. In 2020/21, Civil Service turnover (includes all moves out of the Civil Service) was 5.9%. In light of the pay pause, which was necessary in order to help protect public sector jobs and protect investment in public services, the Government ensured that the lowest paid across all of the...
Heather Wheeler: The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman is a crown servant that reports directly to Parliament. The Ombudsman is not accountable to the government for its performance and sets its own standards for how it delivers its objectives. Further to this, the Honourable Member may wish to write to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee that acts as the scrutiny body for...
Heather Wheeler: This information is not held. Recruitment costs are tracked but Consultancy fees form only a small part of this total. It is not possible to disaggregate and isolate Recruitment Consultancy fees only. Our recruitment systems do not record candidate attraction methodology so we are unable to disaggregate recruitment data to analyse campaign success by Consultancies.
Heather Wheeler: The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Rt hon. Member's Parliamentary Questions of 14 April is attached. UKSA response (pdf, 117.3KB)
Heather Wheeler: I am really disappointed that the hon. Member for Luton South (Rachel Hopkins) decided to take the time to make this a political issue, which it really is not. We want to welcome Sir Robert Chote to the new job, and thank the former chair, Sir David Norgrove. It is a superb promotion, the Committee found him completely acceptable and I just want to commend the motion. Question put and agreed to.
Heather Wheeler: The UK’s fifth National Action Plan was published in January 2022. Owing to the necessary implications of Covid-safe working practices, engagement between government and civil society has taken place exclusively via online platforms. This has enabled the involvement of a greater number of stakeholders from across the UK. The Government will amend and develop the Plan with civil society over...
Heather Wheeler: The Leadership College for Government has already been established. A formal launch event will be held in the Summer to mark this step we are taking to reform leadership and management skills. The Government Campus for Skills has partnered with the College of Policing and the Emergency Planning College to provide physical locations in the Midlands, the North East, and Yorkshire and The...
Heather Wheeler: Every year, the Civil Service People Survey team publishes the Civil Service benchmark scores and the results for all participating organisations in the annual Civil Service People Survey on GOV.UK. The publication of the results for the Civil Service People Survey 2021 is scheduled for Thursday 28 April 2022.
Heather Wheeler: I welcome this debate, which is on a subject of vital importance: ensuring that the public inquiry into covid-19 is set up in the most effective way possible, so that we may learn lessons from the terrible pandemic. I congratulate the hon. Member for Battersea (Marsha De Cordova) on securing it. I will try to respond to her specific points, but let me begin by setting out the current...
Heather Wheeler: I thank my right hon. Friend for asking those questions. In just a minute I will come to an answer for him. Importantly, the terms of reference require the inquiry to listen to the experiences of those most affected by the pandemic, including bereaved families, and to investigate any disparities evident in the impact of the pandemic and our responses. This point is crucial, because the draft...