Every parliamentary written question tabled by Charlie Dewhirst this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 341–360 of 859 · this parliament
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 17 July 2025 to Question 66658 on Official Hospitality: Lancaster House, how much was spent on alcohol at the event.
£56 was spent on wine. All other drinks at the event were provided by sponsors.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what is the salary of the UK Ambassador to the US; and what the percentage employer contribution to his pension scheme is.
Details of all senior staff salaries are published in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office Organograms of Staff Roles and Salaries (https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/73e0260a-0516-44ff-b4eb-ba9fec420c45/fcdo-organograms). All staff enrolled in the Civil Service pension scheme have an employer pension contribution calculated at 28.97 per cent of salary.
Whether the proposed socio-economic duty will apply to fiscal decisions made by her Department.
The Office for Equality and Opportunity in the Cabinet Office is currently working toward commencement of the duty. This includes drafting statutory guidance which will clarify how the duty can be applied effectively.
Whether NHS staff who are on strike are permitted to work for (a) non-NHS bodies, (b) other NHS trusts and (c) other NHS organisations during days of industrial action.
NHS staff who are on strike are allowed to work for non-NHS bodies and other NHS organisations including NHS trusts on days of industrial action, as long as they are not provided by an employment business to cover the work of striking workers. Some employment contracts may require employees to either declare to or seek permission from their employer before working for another employer.
Whether the Certification Officer has received the BDO auditor's report on the Unite trade union's hotel and conference centre development.
The Certification Officer has received the BDO auditor's report and is currently reviewing this.
Whether applicants for company directorships on the Companies House register can nominate Palestinian as their nationality.
‘Palestinian’ is included in the list of nationalities permitted for the purposes of company filings. The full list of nationalities and geographical names is available at the link below: Nationalities and countries for company filings - GOV.UK
What estimate he has made of the annual cost to the public purse of joining the European Defence Security Fund.
This Government has delivered an ambitious security and defence partnership with the European Union. The Strategic Defence Review will strengthen NATO, the cornerstone of the UK’s defence, and it will help grow the economy. It allows us to step up on Euro-Atlantic security together and ensures we are able to explore UK access to Security Action for Europe (SAFE). We are working with our European partners to understand how an arrangement might work. The exact detail of UK participation will be subject to discussions on the specific terms of a UK-EU bilateral participation agreement; we do not wish to pre-empt the outcome of any such negotiations. This Government wants the right deal on the right terms.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether Jonathan Powell was involved in the negotiation of the UK–Mauritius agreement on the Chagos Archipelago as National Security Adviser.
I refer the Hon. Member to the Answer given on 24 February 2025 to Question 30609.
Innovation and Technology, with reference to his Department's press release entitled New mapping tool launched to help bring healthy food to those who need it most, published on 8 July 2025, who will run the state-subsidised eateries in (a) Dundee and (b) Nottingham; and if he will publish the project (a) specification and (b) plan for the DISHED: co-designing innovative infrastructure for sustainable healthy and equitable diets’ piloting public restaurants scheme.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has funded six projects under its “Health inequalities in the food system” programme, announced on 8 July 2025. These projects aim to understand the causes of dietary health inequalities and explore interventions for equitable, healthy consumption. ‘DISHED: co-designing innovative infrastructure for sustainable healthy and equitable diets’ is a funded project within this programme, which will examine different models of public restaurants in Dundee and Nottingham to assess their feasibility in current UK contexts. The project is led by an academic principal investigator. Full grant details will be published on the UKRI Gateway to Research website in due course.
With reference to the Department's register of board members' interests 2024-2025, updated on 16 January 2025, whether Alan Milburn has recused himself from (a) discussions and (b) activity relating to NHS dentistry.
Mr Milburn has agreed to recuse himself from discussions and activity relating to National Health Service dentistry. Declarations of interest and any updates to them are published in the Register of Interests in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts, and on the GOV.UK website, in alignment with Government policy.
With reference to the written statement of 13 March 2025, HCWS517, on Board of Trade, when the Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of all matters relating to Trade and Foreign Plantations last met.
The Board of Trade last met on the 21st May 2025.
With reference the UK Visas and Immigration guidance entitled (a) Skilled Worker visa: going rates for eligible occupation codes and (b) Skilled Worker visa: temporary shortage list, updated on 22 July 2025, what the evidential basis is for (i) a shortage of Equality, diversity and inclusion managers and (ii) the impact on the UK economy of granting visas for such roles; and whether the Migration Advisory Committee has advised on the matter.
On 12 May, we published our Immigration White Paper, outlining our future approach to legal migration routes and the 22 July changes to the Immigration Rules delivered key steps, including raising the skills threshold governing Skilled Worker route to RQF 6, which removed access to over 100 occupations.The Skilled Worker system relies on Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) codes, which are managed by the Office for National Statistics. Occupations which are recognised as meeting the skills threshold for the Skilled Worker immigration route can continue to be sponsored through the route.
Innovation and Technology, what guidance the National Protective Security Authority has provided on using Virtual Private Networks.
As part of our ongoing monitoring of the potential impact of circumvention techniques on the effectiveness of the Online Safety Act, Government is engaging with relevant bodies. However, the National Protective Security Authority has not provided the department with guidance on the use of VPNs.The child safety duties are newly implemented and represent a major milestone in the protection of children online. It is now much harder for children to accidentally or intentionally access harmful content. Services that deliberately target UK children and promote VPNs to circumvent online safety measures could face enforcement action under the Act.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to paragraph 2 of the document entitled DSR 2: General Principles of Conduct of the Diplomatic Service Code, if he will publish a copy of any supplementary guidance on political activities in addition to the guidance in DSR 36.
No such supplementary guidance has been published, nor is any considered necessary.
Innovation and Technology, what funding (a) the Government Digital Service and (b) his Department has provided to DigiGov Expo 2025.
No funding has been provided to DigiGov Expo 2025 by either the Government Digital Service or the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Innovation and Technology, pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2025 to Question 54390 on Data Statistics Research on Sex and Gender Independent Review, if he will make a statement to Parliament with a formal government response to that report.
As outlined in previous Answers of 3 June to Question 54390 and 2 May 2025 to Question 47834, relevant departments and policy teams will consider the findings in light of their ongoing policy work.
What his policy is on the (a) re-use and (b) disposal of branded (i) goods and (ii) signage out of date following machinery of Government changes.
The Cabinet Office does not issue guidance on the re-use and/or disposal of branded goods and signage made obsolete as a result of Machinery of Government changes. It is the responsibility of individual departments to ensure their branded assets are managed appropriately following changes in government structures.
With reference to the written ministerial statement of 21 July 2025, HCWS870, on Government of service, what criteria will be used to distinguish a breach from a serious breach for the purposes of severance payment recovery.
Issues that arise under the Ministerial Code are handled on a case by case basis. From 13 October 2025, if a minister leaves office having been found to have seriously breached the Ministerial Code, they will be expected to forgo a ministerial severance payment.
With reference to the style guide entitled Writing about ethnicity, updated in October 2024, for what reason the reference to communities was removed.
The ‘Writing about ethnicity’ style guide is kept under review, in order to ensure it aligns with government communication preferences.The guide was updated by the Office for Equality and Opportunity in October 2024.
With reference to his Department's press release entitled Extension of Generalist Member to the Senior Salaries Review Body, published on 5 August 2025, whether the Public Appointments Commissioner was consulted on the decision to reappoint the Generalist Member for 12 months.
Under the Governance Code on Public Appointments, departments must notify the Commissioner for Public Appointments of “exceptional reappointments or extensions”. An exceptional reappointment or extension is one that requires a postholder to serve for more than two terms or ten years.On 10 July 2025, Pippa Greenslade’s appointment to the Senior Salaries Review Body was extended for 12 months. This is not considered an “exceptional extension” and therefore the Commissioner for Public Appointments was not notified.