Job applications (2023)

Response

1) In the last five years (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018) how many job applications were rejected due to national security concerns? If possible, indicate the reasons for which they caused national security concerns, for example, concerns over terrorism or foreign intelligence. Please indicate how many applications were rejected each year, e.g. 27 in 2022, 18 in 2021 etc.
3) In the last five years (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018) how many applicants for work experience programmes at the House of Commons (including apprenticeships as well as work experience placements) were rejected on the grounds of national security concerns? If possible, indicate the reasons for which they caused national security concerns. Please indicate how many applications were rejected each year.
and
5) In the last five years (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018) how many House of Commons employees have been fired on the grounds of national security concerns? Please indicate how many applications were rejected each year.

We can neither confirm nor deny that we hold information in relation to this part of your request. If we held any information relevant to your request, providing it would be likely to be extremely useful to malicious actors and individuals looking to circumvent Parliament’s security measures

The duty to confirm or deny whether we hold this information is relieved by virtue of sections 31(3) and 24(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) and further information is detailed below.

Section 24 – national security

We can neither confirm nor deny whether we hold this information, as this is itself necessary for the purpose of safeguarding national security. Section 24(2) is a qualified exemption and the public interest test applies.

We have considered the public interest in confirming or denying whether this information is held. There is a public interest in checking the effective national security issues affecting Parliament. This may be as a reassurance that proper security measures are in place to detect and refuse those with national security concerns from joining the House, as well as providing reassurance that Parliament has appropriately responded to any such concerns.

However, by confirming or denying whether this information is held, we would provide details about the extent of knowledge which Parliament has about national security-related issues at a particular point of time or over a specific period. Depending on the information provided, this may tip off malicious groups and actors as the effectiveness of these measures, and in turn allow them to alter their measures in order to subvert our processes as a result. This therefore presents a risk in itself, and therefore has the potential to compromise national security as a result.

In these circumstances it is our view that the public interest in neither confirming nor denying whether we hold the information outweighs the public interest in doing so.

Section 31 – law enforcement

We can neither confirm nor deny whether we hold this information, as this is necessary in order to not prejudice the prevention and detection of crime. Section 31(3) is a qualified exemption and the public interest test applies.

We have considered the public interest in confirming or denying whether this information is held. As before, there is a public interest in being able to check the prevention of criminal behaviour as a result of national security issues affecting Parliament, including those security measures being in place to detect and refuse those with national security concerns from joining the House, as well as providing reassurance that Parliament has appropriately responded to any such concerns.

However, there is also a public interest in neither confirming nor denying whether we hold the information requested. As above, confirming or denying whether we hold this information would be useful to individuals with criminal intent who are looking to determine the effectiveness of Parliament’s security vetting processes. Confirming or denying this information would provide insight into these processes, which is likely to influencing the tactics they are likely to use against us. This is also very likely to lead to an increase in attacks against the House as a result, and prejudice our detection and prevention of crime.

In these circumstances it is our view that the public interest in neither confirming nor denying whether we hold the information outweighs the public interest in doing so.

2) In the last five years (2022,2021, 2020, 2019, 2018) how many people have applied to work at the HOC? Please split the number of applications into years.
and
4) In the last five years (2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018) how many people have applied for work experience programmes at the House of Commons? Please split the number of applications into years.

Some information is held by the House of Commons regarding this part of your request.

We hold the number of people who applied to work at the House of Commons since October 2018, when we started to record the total number of applications to the House in a given period, and then annually from that point onwards. We also hold the number of people who have applied for work experience to the House in 2019 and 2020, and however we do not hold any information for this for 2018, 2021 or 2022. For 2021 and 2022, this is because the we did not conduct any work experiences schemes in 2021 or 2022 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A work experience scheme was held in 2018, however we no longer hold those records on these applications. The information we hold is provided in the tables below: