Written questions by O'Brien.

How many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against his Department in each of the last five years for (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

The Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (DESNZ) was created in February 2023. In the period 23/24: 1 Employment Tribunal (ET) claim was lodged for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination. In the period 24/25: 2 ET claims were lodged for unfair dismissal and disability discrimination and 1 ET claim for unfair dismissal alone. In the period 25/26: 1 ET claim has been lodged for disability discrimination alone.

How many staff in his Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.

DWP does not require staff to declare whether they have a disability. When a disability is declared, they are not required to give details. Any details that are given are in a free text box where multiple conditions could be shared. Therefore, the data is not broken down any further than declaration of a disability and obtaining this breakdown would incur significant cost. Information on the number of people declaring a disability by each government department are published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication. Latest published data are as at 31 March 2025 and can be found at Table 29 of the statistical tables at the following web address: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2025 Information for 31 March 2026 is due for publication in July 2026.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years for (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

Defra’s casework data is held for three years from the date of case closure. Over the last three years, Defra received 33 Employment Tribunal claims on the grounds of Unfair Dismissal or under the Equality Act. The 33 cases are broken down into the following: Financial Year 2022-23 = total of 9 casesFinancial Year 2023-24 = total of 11 casesFinancial Year 2024-25 = total of 7 casesFinancial Year 2025-26 = total of 6 cases to date The information requested for the older two years is not held centrally and to obtain it would incur disproportionate costs.

Food and Rural Affairs, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many such cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.

The following table summarises the information held on the total number of performance ratings where these were available, and the number of cases where a rating was unsatisfactory or below. Please note that the policy for performance management has changed over this period. End-year performance ratings were removed for most staff in April 23. From this date performance ratings are only collected for Senior Civil Servants in APHA, RPA, VMD and Core Defra, senior leaders in NE, and all staff in EA. Additionally, NE ratings for senior leaders are collated by NE directly and are not included in the data below from April 23 onwards. The reportable data Defra holds does not include the reason for a dismissal and therefore a link to performance rating cannot be made. This limitation means that the requested information on number of staff who left because of a poor performance rating, and the proportion this represents, is not available. OrganisationFinancial YearNumber of performance ratingsNumber of cases where performance was unsatisfactory or belowCore Defra2020-20214720 2021-20225873152022-20235856 2023-2024**182 2024-2025**18410Agencies (APHA, EA, NE, RPA, VMD)2020-2021*14975292021-202217768542022-202320438442023-2024**12925402024-2025**1315429 *No ratings available for RPA.**SCS only for APHA, RPA, VMD, Core Defra, no ratings available for NE.c. These numbers are suppressed in accordance with the Defra data protection policy.

How many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

The table below outlines the number of employment tribunal claims lodged against the central Department for Transport (DfTc) in each of the last five years. As requested, this information is broken down by unfair dismissal claims and claims under the Equality Act 2010. Unfair DismissalEquality Act20210<52022<5<520230<52024<5<52025 (to 24 Oct 2025)<5<5

How many and what proportion of people claiming Personal Independence Payments had their award assessed through (a) a telephone consultation, (b) an in person assessment, (c) a paper based assessment and (d) a video assessment in each of the last ten years; and what the approval rate was for each method.

Management information on the number and proportion of Personal Independence Payments assessments by channel is published in Table 2.32 of the Pathways to Work: Evidence pack: Chapter 2 reforming the structure - GOV.UK. Telephone and video channels have only been available since 2020. The information on approval rates requested is not readily available, and providing it would incur a disproportionate cost.

How many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.

We have provided a response based on the number of submitted reviews over the entirety of a complete performance year (April 1 to March 31), for performance years 2024/25, 2023/24, 2022/23, 2021/22, 2020/21. This has been split, where possible, between Department for Transport (DfT) core and its agencies (Active Travel England (ATE), Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA), Vehicle Certification Agency (VCA)). In addition, data has been split by Senior Civil Servants (SCS) and delegated grades (Grade 6 and below), as performance is managed differently. The information provided does not include employees that have been marked as out of scope for review, and where figures within each business unit are below 5, these have been withheld for identification protection under S40(2) of the FOIA. TOTAL REVIEWS CONDUCTEDYearDfTcDVLADVSAMCAVCAATESCS2024/2510760701811437240056662092812023/24681569824126694228585N/A2842022/231036470408174304169634N/A2712021/221091562607N/A4261737N/A2432020/21958765827N/A4409515N/A232 NUMBER OF UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE RATINGS YearDfTcDVLADVSAMCAVCAATESCS2024/25926057230<5<5132023/24554626743<5N/A92022/2310637911550<5N/A112021/22118148N/A51<5N/A112020/2186148N/A697N/A12 NUMBER OF DIMISSALS AS A RESULT OF PERFORMANCE AND FTE PROPORTIONYearDfTcDVLADVSAMCAVCAATESCSTOTAL (FTE proportion for whole group)2024/25<5<5<5<5<5<5<52 (0.01%)2023/24-------02022/23<5<5<5<5<5<5<57 (0.05%)2021/22-------02020/21<5<5<5<5<5N/A<52 (0.01%)

How many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

The Home Office has 205 Employment Tribunal claims in the last 5 years (01/10/2021 to 30/09/2025), however, to determine those which relate to unfair dismissals and/or the Equality Act 2010 can only be obtained via disproportionate cost.Employment Tribunals decisions are published and can be found in the link below.Employment tribunal decisions - GOV.UK

How many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

The table below presents the headcount of permanent civil servants who have left from the central Department for Transport over the past 5 years, categorised by grade. To ensure the inclusion of the most recent data, the data is provided on a rolling year basis from October to September. Grade2020-212021-222022-232023-242024-25AA3 AO12141618114EO5075634575HEO145159184174134SEO116123111119177Grade 7108135137149160Grade 64248425574SCS11520201528SCS245738SCS32 21 Perm Sec 1 1

How many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability, broken down by grade.

While the self-declaration field for disability and absence data will indicate a mental health condition or a physical disability, this will not confirm the presence of either and therefore this information is not held.However, the number of staff who have declared they have a disability by grade is published and can be found via the link below.Home Office workforce diversity statistics - GOV.UK

How many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability, broken down by grade.

Following a thorough search of our paper and electronic records, I have established that the information you requested is not held by this Department. This is because it is not a requirement of the department to hold reasons for disability. The Department invites employees to self-declare their disability status using pre-defined criteria, including ‘prefer not to say’. Of the employees who have chosen to complete their data as of the 30th of September 2025, 238 individuals have recorded their status as disabled in the central Department for Transport.

How many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

Information on the number of civil servants leaving each government department and organisation by responsibility level for the years 2021 to 2025 is published annually through the ‘Civil Service data browser’ as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication.Information can be accessed through the Civil Service data browser for 2021 through 2025 at the following web address: https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/

How many staff in her Department (a) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.

The Department for Transport’s probation policy and guidance advises managers on the steps to take to assess a new employee’s suitability for the post and to provide support to enable them to succeed. It also advises on the steps to take where performance, attendance or conduct are not satisfactory. This can include exiting the employee or extending their probation to provide further evidence for a final decision on their suitability. The table below shows how many employees of the central Department for Transport (DfTc) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period or had their probationary period extended.As requested this information is provided for the last five 5 years, noting that 2025 data covers 1 January to 24 October 2025. Dismissal - Probation FailureExtended Probation20215<52022<5<520237020248<52025 (to 24 Oct 2025)6<5

Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many officials in her Department hold language qualifications in (a) Mandarin, (b) Cantonese, (c) Russian, (d) Ukrainian, (e) Arabic, (f) Farsi, and (g) Hebrew, broken down by C1 and C2 levels.

The language proficiency of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) staff cannot adequately be assessed solely by looking at the number with current C1 and C2 qualifications, as this does not take into account those staff members who may hold other qualifications in those languages or be native speakers. A full record of staff language capabilities is not centrally held, and could only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

How many serving (a) General Officers in the British Army, (b) Admirals and Flag Officers in the Royal Navy and Royal Marines, (c) Air Officers of Air Rank in the Royal Air Force, (d) Commanding Officers of commissioned Royal Navy submarines and (e) Royal Air Force pilots holding frontline squadron command there are.

Parts a,b and c of the hon. Member's question are answered in the table below. Number of UK Regular Forces, OF-6 to OF-10 by Service as at 1 July 2025 Service Number Royal Navy/ Royal Marines135 Army211 Royal Air Force126 The Ministry of Defence does not routinely disclose the trained strength of individual branches or specialisations as to do so could, or would be likely to, prejudice the security of the Armed Forces. For this reason, I am withholding the answer to parts D and E of this question.

Media and Sport, how many staff in her Department (a) did not retain employment following completion of their probationary period and (b) had their probationary period extended in each of the last five years.

In the last five years 43 members of staff were subject to management procedures during their probationary period. Of these cases 13 employees did not retain their employment and 6 employees were subject to an extension of their probationary period.We cannot provide the number of staff who did not retain their employment or had their probationary period extended. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.

Media and Sport, how many performance reviews were undertaken for staff in (a) her Department and (b) its agencies in each of the last five years; in how many cases performance was rated as unsatisfactory or below; how many staff left as a result of such a rating; and what proportion of full-time equivalent staff this represented.

All DCMS staff are subject to regular performance reviews. Under performance management procedures, reviews should take place monthly, quarterly and at the end of each financial year. We hold data for managing poor performance cases these are provided below for the last 5 years: YearNo. of casesFTE at April% of total FTE2020/202101769.8-2021/2022141978.80.7%2022/2023241668.81.3%2023/202413943.11.3%2024/2025101024.60.9% Of the 61 performance management cases, 11 employees were either dismissed or resigned. We cannot provide the number of performance cases that resulted in either resignation or dismissal for each of the past five years because doing so would breach the Data Protection Act. This is due to the risk of identifying individual cases in years where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects. DCMS does not hold performance data in regards to its arms-length bodies and agencies.

Media and Sport, how many staff in her Department are recorded as having a (a) mental health condition and (b) physical disability by grade.

DCMS asks all employees to declare whether they have a disability, but does not differentiate between mental health and physical disabilities.Information on the number of people declaring a disability by each government department is published annually as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication. Latest published data are as at 31 March 2025 and can be found at Table 29 of the statistical tables at the following web address:https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/civil-service-statistics-2025Information for 31 March 2026 is due for publication in July 2026.

Media and Sport, how many staff left her Department in each of the last five years, broken down by grade.

Information on the number of civil servants leaving each government department and organisation by responsibility level for the years 2021 to 2025 is published annually through the ‘Civil Service data browser’ as part of Civil Service Statistics 2025, an accredited official statistics publication.Information can be accessed through the Civil Service data browser for 2021 through 2025 at the following web address: https://civil-service-statistics.jdac.service.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/.

Media and Sport, how many employment tribunal claims have been lodged against her Department in each of the last five years by (a) unfair dismissal and (b) claims under the Equality Act 2010.

In the past 5 years 7 employment tribunals have been lodged against our department. 5 of these claims were under the Equality Act.We cannot provide the number of claims broken down by year or those that were related to unfair dismissal or claims under the Equality Act 2010. Doing so would breach the Data Protection Act and risk identifying individual cases where the case count is five or less, as the information relates to someone other than the data subjects.