Grim reading for civil servants sitting on the moral high ground today as the Cabinet Office publishes its annual gender pay gap report for 11,081 staff. The median pay gap, already up to 16% last year, has shot up to 20.2%. The Cabinet Office’s “Gender Champion” Elizabeth Gardiner says the figures are “incredibly disappointing“. Meanwhile the UK median pay gap this year is only 7.7%…
The report is blaming agencies under the Cabinet Office’s remit for the fact that the median male earns 20% more when there are actually more women than men (a 53-47% split). The Government Property Agency is attacked for having “a high proportion of property professionals who are highly paid and disproportionately male“. The Cabinet Office’s report is also blaming the fact that more of its women are working outside of London, where the pay grade is lower. London property prices will soak up that pay gap in no time…
The Cabinet Office seems surprised that its “2022-2025 Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and Action Plan” isn’t working and promises to take continued action to do things like “ensure that jobs are designed and advertised in a way that is gender neutral” which means “recruitment is appealing to all and does not dissuade women from applying“. All methods Guido is sure will have no effect whatsoever…
SpAds, on the other hand, are much more equal than the reactionary civil service. Across the 117 SpAds present in March this year, the median pay gap was only 10.8%, with the upper hourly pay quartile skewed 72% men, 28% women. 38% of SpAds in total are women – they’re otherwise fairly evenly spread throughout the pay bands. The civil service could learn a thing or two from political appointments…
The Cabinet Office has offered Julia Hartley-Brewer a public apology after mandarins unlawfully described her as a “known vaccine sceptic” in official government documents. The apology follows legal action which revealed the government’s “Rapid Response Unit” had spread the misinformation in a report on “vaccine hesitancy”. Hartley-Brewer’s ““No. No. No. NO!!!!” tweet in response to a Telegraph story on childhood Covid vaccinations was deemed sufficient evidence of her supposed scepticism. Despite being vaccinated herself…
Brewer released a statement last night:
“I am shocked that the British government spent time during a pandemic monitoring, attempting to censor and smearing a journalist who was simply trying to do her job by asking the right questions and challenging the prevailing orthodoxy. I was not a “known vaccine sceptic”, as my on air and online comments clearly prove.
“A government unit that was supposed to challenge foreign governments disseminating lies online was used against British journalists and MPs expressing reasonable concerns about Covid policies. And now we have proof that this same unit was actually responsible for lying about me.
“I am particularly concerned by the fact that the British government shared this false information about me with a US government counter-terrorism unit set up to tackle Russian, Chinese and Iranian propaganda. This is very sinister.”
The Cabinet Office’s not-so secret report was shared with at least 64 UK Whitehall officials, as well as US counter-terror staff. An apology two years later is the least Julia could expect…
The Cabinet Office has lost its legal battle to withhold Boris’s unredacted WhatsApp messages and diaries from the Covid inquiry. In a judgement today, the High Court ruled the materials must now be handed over to inquiry chair Heather Hallett, as there were no “reasonable” reasons not to do so. Another blow for Rishi…
The Cabinet Office has responded:
“The Inquiry is an important step to learn lessons from the pandemic and the Government is cooperating in the spirit of candour and transparency.
As this judgment acknowledges, our judicial review application was valid as it raised issues over the application of the Inquiries Act 2005 that have now been clarified. The Court’s judgment is a sensible resolution and will mean that the Inquiry Chair is able to see the information she may deem relevant, but we can work together to have an arrangement that respects the privacy of individuals and ensures completely irrelevant information is returned and not retained.
We will comply fully with this judgment and will now work with the Inquiry team on the practical arrangements.”
Time to hand ’em over…
Read the full judgement below:
The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACoBA) has reportedly cleared Sue Gray to begin working as Keir Starmer’s Chief of Staff in the autumn. Despite the Cabinet Office recommending a year-long ban with a further six month block on contacting the government, The Times reports she’s been handed just six months’ gardening leave from the point of quitting earlier this year. She’ll be free to join Labour well in advance of the election and in time for Labour Party Conference. Starmer won’t be waiting for Sue Gray quite as long as expected…
This is of course despite the fact she was in contact with Labour while still in post as a civil servant, and while still involved in the Cabinet Office’s Propriety and Ethics team. Six months from the point of leaving, given her involvement in top-level government discussions, is generous to say the least…
Boris’s spokesperson has released a new statement claiming all his WhatsApps and notebooks have already been handed to the Cabinet Office “in full and unredacted form” and was given to them months ago. Yesterday the Cabinet Office claimed they didn’t have any…
“All Boris Johnson’s material – including WhatsApps and notebooks – requested by the Covid Inquiry has been handed to the Cabinet Office in full and in unredacted form. While Mr Johnson understands the government’s position, and does not seek to contradict it, he is perfectly happy for the Inquiry to have access to this material in whatever form it requires […] The Cabinet Office has had access to this material for several months.”
What’s in there that the Cabinet Office doesn’t want released? The ball is in their court ahead of the deadline…
The Covid inquiry has shifted the Cabinet Office’s deadline to hand over Boris’s notes and WhatsApp messages by 48 hours. The initial deadline was 4 p.m. this afternoon – now it’s set for Thursday. Despite an initial request to delay it until at least 5th June…
Either way, the Cabinet Office insists it doesn’t even have the WhatsApps in the first place. The Inquiry’s announcement this morning says:
“…the Inquiry was informed that the Cabinet Office does not have in its possession either Mr Johnson’s WhatsApp messages or Mr Johnson’s notebooks, as sought in the original section 21 Notice […] the section 21 Notice has been varied so that if theCabinet Office maintains its position that it does not hold specified materials, it mustprovide in substitute a witness statement from a senior civil servant, verified by a statement of truth…”
Ministers claimed yesterday that handing over “unambiguously irrelevant” documents would be a “serious intrusion of privacy”. Now apparently the Cabinet Office doesn’t actually have them…
UPDATE: A spokesperson for Boris tells Guido:
“Mr Johnson has no objection to disclosing material to the Inquiry. He has done so and will continue to do so. The decision to challenge the Inquiry’s position on redactions is for the Cabinet Office.”
