Civil Service Recruitment 2025-10-23
2025-10-23
TAGS
Response quality
Questions & Answers
Q1
Partial Answer
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Context
Discusses the civil service fast stream programme and its restrictions on applications to benefit working-class children, affecting those from other backgrounds.
The Government are restricting applications to the civil service fast stream summer internship programme in favour of those kids who they deem to be from working-class backgrounds. What does the Minister have to say to the children of hard-working nurses, police officers and teachers who will now not get the same opportunities because of decisions made by this Government?
The fast stream programme is the No. 1 graduate employee scheme in the country with over 70,000 applicants for just 754 appointments. We are taking proactive decisions to ensure that people from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can take internships as the number of working-class people in the civil service is three times smaller than the broader UK workforce.
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Assessment & feedback
Minister did not directly address the concerns about restricting opportunities for certain groups but highlighted proactive steps being taken to increase diversity.
Response accuracy
Q2
Partial Answer
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Context
Discusses the government's promise to reduce civil service numbers, but latest figures show an increase by 7,000 compared with last year.
Last year, the Government promised us that they were going to slash the size of the civil service, but instead the latest figures showed that the size of the civil service has increased by 7,000 compared with last year. Will the Minister guarantee that when the next set of figures is published, it will show a reduction in the size of the civil service and the size of the Cabinet Office?
Under the last Tory Government, Boris Johnson said that he would cut the number of people employed by the civil service by 91,000 but it went up. Jeremy Hunt said he would cap numbers in the civil service, but they went up. We are taking action to bring those numbers down.
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Assessment & feedback
Minister did not provide a specific commitment to reduce civil service numbers and instead criticized previous government's promises without fulfilling them.
Criticizing The Previous Government
Response accuracy
Q3
Partial Answer
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Context
Discusses media briefings against the Cabinet Secretary and calls for an investigation into breaches of conduct.
The Minister is correct when she says that the civil service must be able to recruit the brightest and the best, but surely she can see that that is not helped when the most senior civil servant, hand-picked by the Prime Minister barely months ago, faces a barrage of media briefings from within Government. Will the Minister and her Department commission an inquiry into the breach of the code of conduct for special advisers following the personal attacks on the Cabinet Secretary, and will she condemn the vicious media briefings that have clearly come from within No.10?
We have full confidence in the Cabinet Secretary and we condemn all leaks and breaches. We undertake to look into how any leaks from Government take place.
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Assessment & feedback
Minister did not commit to a specific inquiry but condemned leaks and committed to investigating them.
Response accuracy