The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2016 to Question 40488, on civil service recruitment, who has been appointed the board level diversity champion in his Department.
Joseph Johnson
Gareth Davies, Director General for Business and Science, is the Department’s board-level diversity champion.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 9 June 2016 to Question 39339, on his Department’s reorganisation, whether the projected £7.5 million saving includes the transitional costs arising from centralising policy functions in London.
Joseph Johnson
The saving projection of at least £7.5m per year by 2019-20 refers to the reduction in on-going operating costs. This on-going operating cost reduction does not include one-off, transitional costs incurred before 2019-20 which are estimated at between £9-£13m in total.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 39361, on his Department’s reorganisation, how many of the 1,500 policy posts reduced will be (a) in and (b) outside London.
Joseph Johnson
The answer to question 39361 stated that policy posts would be reduced to around 1,500, not by around 1,500.
The Executive Board announced on 26 May that from January 2018 all policy roles will be based in our single HQ and policy centre in London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Christopher Chope on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, if he will instruct Student Finance England to respond to student number 03530036915 at the University of the West of England on the submission of that student’s 2015-16 declaration form.
Joseph Johnson
Student Finance England has confirmed that it has recently been in contact with the relevant student, and that their 2015-16 declaration form has been processed.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2016 to Question 39715, on his Department’s vacancies, what plans he has to use secondments from private sector organisations outside London as part of his Department’s resourcing strategy.
Joseph Johnson
As in the past, the Department makes use of secondments to supplement skills, provide external insights and interchange with the private sector, as part of its resourcing strategy.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 14 June 2016 to Question 39322, on his Department’s vacancies, how many internal policy vacancies his Department has.
Joseph Johnson
The current number of internal policy vacancies being advertised in the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills HQ is 21.
The number of advertised vacancies can vary depending on recruitment timelines. All vacancies are advertised online via Civil Service Jobs.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 15 June 2016 to Question 39715, on his Department’s vacancies, what plans he has for his Department’s graduate recruitment to take place outside London.
Joseph Johnson
The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) is developing a Resourcing Strategy that will include targeted recruitment over the next few years that includes graduate recruitment. We have recently recruited 3 graduates on 1 year internships who will be based in Cardiff and Sheffield, working in Vocational Education, Higher Education and Infrastructure and Materials. We will be developing our graduate resourcing plans in line with business requirements, which will include consideration of roles both inside and outside of London. The Department also participates in a cross-Government graduate scheme. Within this scheme, graduates are centrally recruited from all over the UK and short-term placements are offered by departments, including BIS, across various departmental locations.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39360, on his Department’s reorganisation, whether graduates taking part in the cross-government graduate scheme can take up policy roles in his Department based outside of London.
Joseph Johnson
The Executive Board announced on 26 May that from January 2018 all policy roles will be based in our single HQ and policy centre in London.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Blomfield on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Answer of 13 June 2016 to Question 39321, on Civil Service recruitment, what assessment he has made of the effect of the geographical focus on London of fast stream recruitment on his Department’s plans to diversify the civil service.
Matthew Hancock
Research undertaken within the Civil Service (by the Bridge Group in 2015/16) and externally (e.g. by Trendence in 2015) shows that lower socio-economic applicants are potentially more likely to be less mobile and less willing to move to London.
A dedicated new assessment centre will open in Newcastle in Autumn 2016. From Autumn 2017 we intend to regionalise further, introducing ‘pop up’ centres in support of our fixed assessment locations.
Beyond the assessment process, we also require all centrally managed Fast Streamers to undertake a regional place.
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Kerry McCarthy on 2016-07-06.
To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, pursuant to the Prime Minister’s oral statement of 27 June 2016, Official Report, column 23, on the outcome of the EU referendum, which officials from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs will be appointed to the new EU Unit.
Mr Oliver Letwin
The new EU unit will bring together officials and policy expertise from across Whitehall. Structures and staffing are being determined.