Written questions by Glen.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 September 2024 to Question 5043 on Prime Minister: Staff, how many staff work in (a) press, (b) marketing and (c) communications roles.

As a modern communications service, the Prime Minister’s communications team covers a wide range of functions, including press, digital, strategic comms and private office support. In addition to supporting directly the work of the Prime Minister, Downing Street also serves as a central communications team, working across Whitehall to prepare content, communicate the delivery of policies and coordinate communications activity across government departments, in line with the Civil Service Code. As of November 7, there are 47.6 FTE Civil Servants in the communications team. This remains unchanged in size since the election. As was the case under the previous Administration, information about Special Adviser numbers and costs will be published in the Annual report on Special Advisers.

Pursuant to the Answer of 12 September 2024 to Question 4661 on Strike Ballots, whether his Department plans to review the industrial action sections of the National Risk Register.

The UK is facing an ever-changing and growing set of risks. All risks in the National Risk Register are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity and to reflect the risk landscape.

Pursuant to the answer of 10 September 2024, to Question 5001, on Prime Minister: Correspondence, what the 10 Downing Street fax number is for public correspondence.

The fax number is 020 7925 0918, which remains unchanged from the previous administration.

What steps he is taking to tackle misogyny in the Civil Service.

​​​​The Civil Service is committed to creating a safe and supportive work environment for its employees, including women, and will not tolerate any form of harassment, unacceptable behaviour, abuse, or misogynistic behaviour by any party, towards any employee. Departments have their own policies and guidance on dealing with unacceptable behaviour including handling situations of, for example, harassment, assault against staff or misogynistic behaviour.

What the timetable is for publication on gov.uk of 2024 data for Organograms of Staff Roles and Salaries for each Department.

The requirements for the publication of departmental Senior Civil Service (SCS) organograms remain in place. Each individual department is required to publish this information regularly on gov.uk and is responsible for their own publication.

If she will publish the declaration of interests of the International Investment Summit Adviser.

Declarations of interests have been made in the usual way. The Treasury does not comment on individual declarations of interests.

On what statutory basis the salary of a special adviser is set.

The statutory basis is that provided by the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

What the Prime Minister’s current (a) claimed annual salary and (b) entitled annual salary is (i) including and (ii) excluding his Parliamentary salary.

The Prime Minister’s claimed annual salary is £75,440. His entitled annual salary is £80,807. His parliamentary salary is £91,346. His total annual claimed salary is therefore £166,786.

What the percentage (a) employee and (b) employer pension contribution is for Ministerial pensions.

This information is publicly available on the Parliamentary Contribution Pension Fund (PCPF) website.

What the cost to the public purse was of public sector pay deals since 4 July 2024.

As set out in the 'Fixing the Foundations' document, which was published alongside the Chancellor’s Statement on 29 July, the 2024-25 pay awards for Pay Review Body workforces and the delegated Civil Service grades create an estimated further pressure of £9.4 billion in 2024-25 on top of what the previous government set aside for public sector pay awards. The previous government had only planned for 2% awards when setting budgets at the 2021 Spending Review, and then neglected to set aside the funds that were likely to be needed for these awards. Since the Chancellor's July Statement, resident doctors accepted the Government’s pay deal to provide an additional pay uplift worth an average of 4.05% on top of their existing pay award for 2023-24, which has an estimated cost impact of approximately £350 million per year. This offer has brought an end to industrial action by resident doctors. Industrial action in the NHS alone has cost taxpayers £1.7 billion since April 2023 and cost patients nearly 1.5 million cancelled appointments under the previous government. The government has also agreed pay mandates for rail staff at train operating companies and Network Rail. The total cost of these pay deals over the three-year period is significantly less than the economic impact strikes have had so far - not to mention the increased costs if industrial action continued.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 September 2024, to Question 4702 on Public Bodies, if he will outline the process in place for considering whether to approve the creation of a new public body.

The approvals process for new arms length bodies (ALB) is outlined in the Public Bodies Handbook - Part 2.

How many officials in her Department attended this year’s Labour Party Conference.

Guidance on Party Conferences is published on gov.uk and can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-servants-and-party-conferences-guidance There is no central record of any Cabinet Office civil servants attending this year’s Labour Party Conference.

Whether his Department issues guidance on investment from (a) the People's Republic of China and (b) organisations associated with the Chinese Communist Party.

The government does not direct the private sector’s commercial partnerships. Ministers and Officials are in regular contact with leaders across all UK industries and may provide advice and support as appropriate. The UK will attract investment due to its stable business environment and resilient national security framework that safeguards investments as well as the nation’s security. Under the NSI Act, the government has the authority to scrutinise and intervene in business transactions involving foreign investment in sensitive sectors to protect national security, regardless of the origin of the investment.

What is the timetable for publication under the Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 of trade union facility time data for 2023-24.

Self-reported public-sector trade union facility time data, collected under the Facility Time Regulations, will be published before the end of the year. This is in line with our standard timelines for this data set and the timelines under the previous administration.

What guidance his Department issues on Environmental, Social and Governance requirements in government procurement.

The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) will set out the Government’s strategic policy priorities for public procurement to create a mission-led procurement regime delivering value for money, economic growth, social value, and driving up standards.

How changes to the Ministerial reporting regime will affect (a) gifts and (b) hospitality (i) under and (ii) over £300.

Information on the acceptance of gifts and hospitality by ministers, including details on reporting, will be set out in the Ministerial Code.

What meetings officials in her Department have had with companies represented by Arden Strategies since 5 July 2024.

The government has engaged with a number of different businesses and trade bodies in the run up to the International Investment Summit – including Arden Strategies - to help coordinate meetings with key investors as part of the usual course of business. It also has an ongoing business engagement programme run by officials. All external meetings between senior officials at Permanent Secretary and Director General will be published on gov.uk in the usual way as part of the department’s quarterly transparency return.

Whether changes have been made to the Border Target Operation Model since 5 July 2024; and what his latest estimate is of the (a) timetable and (b) budget for the introduction of related controls.

Implementation of the Border Target Operating Model (BTOM) is ongoing. On 7 October HMRC announced that the waiver on Safety and Security declarations for EU imports would be extended until 31 January 2025. HMRC readiness activity is now underway. On 8 October my noble friend Baroness Hayman of Ullock laid legislation to extend the Transitional Staging Period until July 2025 for the implementation of import checks and controls on certain sanitary and phytosanitary goods entering Great Britain from certain countries. There is no specific budget allocated to BTOM. The implementation and updates are the responsibility for each Department and where appropriate for the Devolved Governments.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 September 2024 to Question 4642 on Senior Civil Servants: Recruitment, what the process is by which a recruitment principles exception application to the Civil Service Commission is authorised within Departments.

Each department will have its own process for authorising the use of exceptions, in accordance with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles 2018 and the Civil Service Management Code. Details of these processes are not held centrally.

Whether she made a ministerial declaration of interest in relation to her donation from Ian Corfield.

Ian Corfield was appointed on a short-term basis to carry out urgent work in support of the government’s International Investment Summit in October. A full recruitment process could not have been completed in the time available. He has since been appointed, unpaid, as a direct ministerial appointment. The donation was included in the Chancellor's Register of Member's Interests.