Departmental Disciplinary Proceedings

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) disciplinary and (b) capability procedures have been (i) initiated and (ii) completed in her Department in each of the last five years; how much time on average was taken to complete each type of procedure in each such year; how many and what proportion of her Department's staff were subject to each type of procedure in each such year; and how many and what proportion of each type of procedure resulted in the dismissal of the member of staff. (320623)

The information sought is not available prior to April 2007. Such information as is available for subsequent years is as follows:

*Table 1*: *Number of staff in respect of whom disciplinary procedures were completed*
	Number of staff at year end	Discipline procedures completed	Percentage of headcount
2007-08	113,972	903	0.79
2008-09	106,963	1,081	1.01
2009-10¹	120,944	1,212	1.00
¹To end February 2010.

*Table 2: Number of staff in respect of whom capability procedures were completed*
	Number of staff at year end	Capability procedures completed	Percentage of headcount
2007-08	113,972	109	0.10
2008-09	106,963	77	0.07
2009-10¹	120,944	87	0.07
¹ To end February 2010.

*Table 3: Number of staff dismissed as a result of capability/discipline action*
	Dismissed on grounds of capability	Percentage of capability procedures undertaken	Dismissed on grounds of discipline	Percentage of disciplinary procedures undertaken
2007-08	17	16	178	20
2008-09	15	19	233	22
2009-10¹	22	25	300	25
¹To end February 2010.

The figures in table 3 do not include staff dismissed for health related reasons.

Volume 507: debated on Monday 15 March 2010