To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what the total number of full-time equivalent staff employed by his Department was in (a) 2022 and (b) each of the last 13 years.

The following table shows the Department’s total number of fulltime equivalent (FTE) for 2022 and each of the last 13 years.

A programme of work is currently underway within the Department to ensure that we have the most efficient headcount to deliver our priorities.

The Department increased in size during this period to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, 1018 FTE joined the Department with the creation of Office for Health Inequalities and Disparities in October 2021. However, the colleagues who transitioned from Public Health England (PHE) were not recorded in the Department data system until early 2022 and therefore do not appear in the 2021 figure on GOV.UK shown here. The 2022 figure includes former PHE colleagues.

Notes:

1. Figures as of 31 December each year.
2. Figures from 2012 onwards are taken from published data available as transparency statistics at www.gov.uk/government/collections/dhsc-workforce-management-information.
3. Figures prior to 2013 have been drawn from the Department’s archives.
4. Figures published on GOV.UK do not show the full establishment workforce of the Department. Contingent Labour, Secondments In, Fast Streamers and vacancies are not included.