Work and Pensions written question – answered at on 6 November 2013.
Gareth Thomas
Shadow Minister (Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs), Party Chair, Co-operative Party
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many visits the permanent Secretary and the four next most senior civil servants in his Department made to the European Commission in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement.
Esther McVey
The Minister of State, Department for Work and Pensions
The Department regularly publishes data relating to overseas visits undertaken by the permanent Secretary and senior civil servants. The information you have requested can be found via the following link:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/dwp-senior-managers-hospitality-and-business-expenses
Yes2 people think so
No1 person thinks not
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The European Commission is the politically independent institution that represents and upholds the interests of the EU as a whole. It is the driving force within the EU’s institutional system: it proposes legislation, policies and programmes of action and it is responsible for implementing the decisions of Parliament and the Council.
Like the Parliament and Council, the European Commission was set up in the 1950s under the EU’s founding treaties.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
A Permanent Secretary is a top civil servant- there is a permanent secretary in each Office/Dept./Ministry Permanent Secretaries are always Knights, (I.E. "Sir" or "Dame"). BBC Sitcom "Yes Minster" portrays Sir Humprey Appelby as a Permanent Secretary, steretypically spouting lots of red tape and bureacracy.
