Tag: Jonathan Ashworth

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-07-20.

To ask the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union, what the recruitment process is for employing an official from another government department in a new role in his Department.

Mr David Jones

The new Department for Exiting the European Union will be made up of staff from various departments across Government, including from the UK’s Permanent Representation to the EU. The department has already started drawing together expertise from a wide range of departments where there is specific relevant knowledge. The overall size and scope of the new department, including staffing and budget, are now being considered – the department now has over 180 staff.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Attorney General, on how many occasions a special adviser in the Law Officers’ Departments accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

Robert Buckland

None. The Attorney General’s Office does not employ any special advisers.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2015-12-02.

To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, on how many occasions a special adviser in his Department accompanied a Minister on an overseas trip since May 2015.

Caroline Dinenage

As has been the case under successive Administrations, civil servants, including special advisers, may routinely accompany their Ministers on official visits.

All ministerial travel is undertaken in accordance with the Ministerial Code.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-23.

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, what the cost of the trade envoy programme has been since its launch in September 2012.

Anna Soubry

To fulfil their overseas and UK travel commitments, there is a dedicated budget for the Trade Envoys.

Total cost of the programme to date has been £424,529

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many consultants’ contracts were terminated early in each of the last six years for which figures are available; and what the cost of each such termination was in each of those years.

Harriett Baldwin

Since April 2011, the department has maintained a contracts database. A search of that database by the Crown Commercial Service has not identified any consultancy contracts that have been terminated early.

Prior to April 2011, the department did not hold a central record of contracts. To attempt to extract the information from local records would be at disproportionate cost.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many civil law suits have been brought against his Department based either wholly or partially on grounds provided by the Human Rights Act 1998; how many such suits were settled out of court before a court judgment was delivered; and how much such settlements have cost the public purse since 2010.

Mark Lancaster

The information is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, how many (a) publications, (b) consultation documents and (c) circulars his Department has issued since August 2012; and what the title was of each such publication, consultation document or circular.

Mr David Lidington

Over 3,500 Foreign and Commonwealth Office publications since 1 August 2012 are available on the gov.uk website at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications

Many of our Posts and Missions overseas publish documents that are relevant to their work. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not hold information on the full range of documents centrally and it could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

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The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-25.

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, how much her Department spent from the public purse on industrial tribunals in the last 12 months.

Mr Desmond Swayne

In the last 12 month period DFID has spent £84.30 on Industrial Tribunals.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-02-24.

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, how the Government plans to ensure that any special advisers working part-time for Government and part-time for a campaign do not make use of departmental or government resources in their campaign work.

Matthew Hancock

Special advisers are required to conduct themselves in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers at all times.

Arrangements for special advisers’ involvement in campaign activities are set out in the Cabinet Secretary’s letter of 23 February. This letter is published on www.GOV.UK.

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Jonathan Ashworth on 2016-03-10.

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, how many and what proportion of officials of his Department took sick leave for reasons relating to stress in each of the last five years; and what proportion of total sick leave that leave was in each such year.

Mr Edward Vaizey

The average days’ sickness absence per full time equivalent employed by DCMS during the last financial year was 2.0 days.

The Civil Service takes a holistic approach to managing sick absence and improving wellbeing and we have focussed on specific actions to reduce the incidence of mental disorders, including stress related absence. This includes

• early referral to occupational health experts, particularly for mental health, stress or musculoskeletal conditions,

• early referral to Employee Assistance Programmes (EAP) for CBT based counselling support for mental health issues,

• workplace adjustments that help to prevent conditions from developing or worsening, whilst reducing the barriers to work for those affected by mental or physical impairments,

• extensive training for managers and employees including on disability and mental health awareness, well-being, resilience and stress.

Financial Year	Number of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress	Proportion of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress	Proportion of total sick such sick leave was in the department
Apr 14 – Mar 15	1	0.2%	0.5%
Apr 13 – Mar 14	2	0.5%	0.9%
Apr 12 – Mar 13	3	0.8%	1.2%
Apr 11 – Mar 12	5	1.1%	2.1%
Apr 10 – Mar 11	6	1.4%	2.5%

Background

We have reported on the average sickness absence in the annual report (link) and do not specifically report on sickness absence due to stress.

The DCMS sick absence data is low in comparison with the Civil Service average of 7.4 Average Working Days Lost. We do not have any evidence to know why this is. HR continues to remind all staff and managers of the importance of accurate and prompt recording on the HR system.

Financial Year	Number of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress	Proportion of officials who took sick leave for reasons relating to stress	Department FTE	Total sickness in department	Percentage of staff who took Stress Related Absence against total staff who recorded a sick absence
Apr 14 – Mar 15	1	0.2%	461	203	0.5%
Apr 13 – Mar 14	2	0.5%	381	234	0.9%
Apr 12 – Mar 13	3	0.8%	376	259	1.2%
Apr 11 – Mar 12	5	1.1%	457	243	2.1%
Apr 10 – Mar 11	6	1.4%	443	242	2.5%

¹Department FTE from DCMS Annual Report & Accounts 2010-11 and 2014-15

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