Treasury written question – answered at on 9 September 2024.
Charlie Dewhirst
Conservative, Bridlington and The Wolds
To ask the Chancellor of the exchequer, with reference to the policy paper entitled Fixing the Foundations: Public Spending Audit 2024-25, published on 29 July 2024, CP 1133, what estimate his Department has made of the total cost of civil service salaries in the (a) 2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial year (i) before and (ii) after the decisions on (A) civil service pay increases and (B) the size of the civil service set out in that policy paper.
Darren Jones
The Chief Secretary to the Treasury
Pay for civil servants outside of the Senior Civil Service is not set centrally; rather, departments and bodies have freedom to make decisions on pay within the parameters of the Pay Remit Guidance published annually by the Cabinet Office. The Pay Remit Guidance for 2024/5 can be found using the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2024-to-2025/civil-service-pay-remit-guidance-2024-to-2025
The pay remit sets a percentage maximum by which bodies can increase their average paybill. Each department will need to consider how they intend to apply the award to their workforce, before implementing it. The final cost of the civil service pay award for 2024/25 and estimates for 2025/26 will not be confirmed until this is concluded.
Data on the size of the Civil Service is available through the ONS Public Sector Employment publication, and can be found using the following link: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel
Yes2 people think so
No2 people think not
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The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
The cabinet is the group of twenty or so (and no more than 22) senior government ministers who are responsible for running the departments of state and deciding government policy.
It is chaired by the prime minister.
The cabinet is bound by collective responsibility, which means that all its members must abide by and defend the decisions it takes, despite any private doubts that they might have.
Cabinet ministers are appointed by the prime minister and chosen from MPs or peers of the governing party.
However, during periods of national emergency, or when no single party gains a large enough majority to govern alone, coalition governments have been formed with cabinets containing members from more than one political party.
War cabinets have sometimes been formed with a much smaller membership than the full cabinet.
From time to time the prime minister will reorganise the cabinet in order to bring in new members, or to move existing members around. This reorganisation is known as a cabinet re-shuffle.
The cabinet normally meets once a week in the cabinet room at Downing Street.
