Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

Civil Service Recruitment

Thursday 23 October 2025 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Government restricting civil service fast stream summer internships to favor applicants from working-class backgrounds.
  • Civil service size increased by 7,000 compared to last year despite promises to reduce numbers.
  • Government expresses full confidence in the Cabinet Secretary amid media leaks and breaches.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Joe Robertson Con Isle of Wight East
Employment Standards & Ethics
Context

Discusses the civil service fast stream programme and its restrictions on applications to benefit working-class children, affecting those from other backgrounds.

Question

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?

Answer from Anna Turley (The Minister without Portfolio)

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.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Minister did not directly address the concerns about restricting opportunities for certain groups but highlighted proactive steps being taken to increase diversity.

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Q2 Mike Wood Con Kingswinford and South Staffordshire
Parliamentary Procedure
Context

Discusses the government's promise to reduce civil service numbers, but latest figures show an increase by 7,000 compared with last year.

Question

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?

Answer from Anna Turley (The Minister without Portfolio)

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.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Minister did not provide a specific commitment to reduce civil service numbers and instead criticized previous government's promises without fulfilling them.

How: Criticizing The Previous Government

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Q3 Mike Wood Con Kingswinford and South Staffordshire
Standards & Ethics
Context

Discusses media briefings against the Cabinet Secretary and calls for an investigation into breaches of conduct.

Question

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?

Answer from Anna Turley (The Minister without Portfolio)

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.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Minister did not commit to a specific inquiry but condemned leaks and committed to investigating them.

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