Written questions by Wood.

What guidance his Department has issued to other Departments on methods for monitoring workplace attendance.

As separate employers, it is for each department to determine methods for monitoring workplace attendance of employees. Current Civil Service guidance requires Civil Servants to attend the office or work face-to-face with colleagues at least 60% of the time. Considerations for monitoring workplace attendance, for example advice on GDPR compliance, has been provided to departments. Additionally, HQ Occupancy data collection enables the Cabinet Office to gain a general understanding of each department’s position to ensure efficient and effective use of the estate. The latest headquarters occupancy data for each Government department is available publicly on gov.uk

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14704 on Remuneration Committee, what the (a) terms of reference and (b) remit are of that Committee.

The Government Commercial Organisation (GCO) Remuneration Committee's remit focuses on overseeing all aspects of remuneration for GCO staff, including setting strategic direction for remuneration and reward, and ensuring pension administration is managed correctly. A summary of the terms of reference is below: GCO Remuneration Committee - Summary Terms of Reference (TOR) 1. MembershipThe Committee will comprise five members: - two Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), of whom one will be the Committee Chair; - the Government Chief Commercial Officer (GCCO); and - two independent members comprising a senior Cabinet Office (CO) HR representative and a HM Treasury representative. 2. AuthorityThe Committee is authorised to approve the remuneration of the GCO’s employees. 3. RemitThe Committee will act on a collective basis, and has collective responsibility for overseeing the total reward of GCO employees covering all aspects of terms and conditions within the GCO. 4. Duties4.1 In support of delivering against the remit of the Committee, the following duties will apply: - The Committee will seek to ensure that the GCO reward structure continues to be competitive, in order to attract, retain and motivate employees within the constraints and parameters set by HM Treasury and the Civil Service Board. In addition, the Committee will:- Have access to the appropriate personal reward and performance information and have the sufficient resources in order to carry out its duties, including access to relevant experts and advice as required.- Be provided with appropriate and timely training, both in the form of an induction for new members and in light of any GCO or wider Civil Service changes on an ongoing basis as and when required 5. Role of members in supporting the Committee’s workEffective corporate governance requires that Committee members abide by certain principles when making their own contributions to the Committee’s work, including:a. working cooperatively with fellow Committee members in the GCO’s best interests.b. allocating sufficient time to discharge their responsibilities effectively.c. reaching a view on issues based upon proper and impartial consideration of the facts presented and not on the basis of predetermined or partisan views.d. supporting corporate decisions whatever one’s personal view on the matter.e. respecting any decision of the Committee that an item of business should remain confidential unless there is a legal requirement to waive confidentiality.f. declaring any potential conflict of interest arising from discussions of business or from other aspects of membership and, where appropriate, recusing themselves from discussions of business. 6. SecretariatThe GCO will provide the secretary to the Committee and will ensure that the relevant information and papers are issued to members in a timely manner to enable full and proper consideration to be given to the issues. 7. MeetingsThe Committee will have a minimum of two meetings a year, with meeting dates agreed annually with the Chair. Meetings of the Committee may have to be moved / amended as required by the relevant GCO remuneration and people policies.The secretariat will record actions and decisions of all committee meetings, including the names of those present. They will also make a record of any out of Committee decisions and actions. 8. Other mattersThe quorum necessary for any approval or recommendation will be three, including at least one Non-Executive Director and matters can be considered, and recorded, out of formal Committee meetings.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, what criteria were applied to determine whether a role was urgent or critical during the pre-election period.

The guidance regarding recruitment of Senior Civil Servants during the pre-election period was published on the gov.uk website here.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 22202 on Foreign Investment in the UK: National Security, how many transactions have related to China since 5 July 2024.

The Government publishes an annual report on the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021, with information about the transactions that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a full national security assessment.The reports include, amongst other things, the percentage of accepted notifications, call-in notices issued, final notifications issued and the number of withdrawals from a called in acquisition and final orders issued by origin of investment.The NSI Annual Report 2023-24 was published on 10 September 2024. In this period 3% of accepted notifications involved acquirers associated with China. The period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 will be covered in the next annual report, which will be published later this year.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, how many urgent exemptions to external by default recruitment were granted during the pre-election period.

Details of exemptions to External by Default recruitment are not held centrally. It is the responsibility of all Ministerial departments, Non-Ministerial departments, Executive Agencies and Crown Non-Departmental Public Bodies to hold their own recruitment records including those relating to exemptions to External by Default.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21685 on Civil Service: Pensions, if he will publish the most recent Employer Pension Notice from the Cabinet Office to Government departments on the disclosure of Senior Civil Servants' pensions under their financial reporting requirements.

The most recent Employer Pension Notice (EPN), EPN 727, was published on the Civil Service Pension website on 31 January 2025.

How much time his Department allocates to each of the cross Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion networks for staff who work in his Department.

There is no specific allocation of network time allocated to each of the cross Civil Service Equality Diversity and Inclusion networks, for staff who work in the Cabinet Office.

What the headcount is of the team administering the test-and-learn programme; and what proportion of the fund is allocated to cover their costs.

The Programme will deploy Test and Learns teams into the frontline around the country over the next three years to design and test innovative solutions to our biggest public service challenges in partnership with local places – and ensuring that local learning informs national policy decisions. The Cabinet Office is working across government and with local partners to codesign the detailed approach.

Whether the portal for all transparency data announced in July 2023 has been cancelled.

The portal, announced by the previous Government in July 2023, did not receive funding at the time and this remains the case.This Government has already introduced tangible improvements to transparency data, notably the monthly Register of Ministers’ Gifts and Hospitality, published centrally by the Cabinet Office on GOV.UK

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 13804 on Civil Service: Workplace Pensions, if he will list the non-Civil Service organisations whose employees are eligible for the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

A list of the non-Civil Service organisations whose employees are eligible for the Civil Service Pension Scheme is available in the public domain and can be found on the member section of the Civil Service Pension website.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14952 on Departmental Coordination, whether the mission boards are Cabinet sub-committees.

Yes, Mission Boards are Cabinet committees. The list of Cabinet committees has been placed in the House of Commons library and published on gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-cabinet-committees-system-and-list-of-cabinet-committees).

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 March 2025 to Question 38758 on Cabinet Office: Contracts, whether the Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service was involved in the approval of payments to the Boston Consulting Group in March 2024.

The Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service is not involved with the process for the approval of payments to suppliers. The purchase to pay process is managed between the Cabinet Office Finance team and the respective Contract Manager. At the time of this work, the Chief Operating Officer for the Civil Service was a member of the CO Investment Committee which was responsible for the approval of whole life investment spend for projects and programmes over £1m. In addition to this, all professional services spend over £100k required the approval from the Investment Committee and the Minister for Cabinet Office.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1283 on Public Finance, whether there have been recent reviews of the process outlined in the Cabinet Manual for access talks.

The process for access talks remains as set out in the Cabinet Manual; these arrangements have not been formally reviewed since publication.

Pursuant to the Answer of 28 January 2025 to Question 25447 on Propriety and Constitution Group, whether civil servants in Propriety and Constitution Group have been awarded bonuses in the last 12 months.

A total of 97 individuals have been awarded bonuses between April 2024 and March 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22040 on Government departments: trade unions, which unions pay their trade union membership subscriptions via check-off in the Cabinet Office; how many members pay in that way; and at what cost to his Department.

The Cabinet Office does not deduct trade union subscriptions from staff via payroll.

With reference to the Security and Intelligence Agencies Financial Statement 2023-24, for what reason the administration cost estimate for 2023-24 was higher than the outturn; and what assessment he has made of the accuracy of financial planning for the Security and Intelligence Agencies.

As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament scrutinises the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of the intelligence agencies on behalf of Parliament.

Whether his Department has a strategy for identifying people for the future award of honours and dignities.

The Cabinet Office Honours team is working with other government departments to make the honours system representative of UK society, this is in line with the Prime Minister’s priorities for the honours system.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 26195 on European Court of Justice, what discussions he has had with the European Commission on the jurisdiction of European Court of Justice rulings in the UK.

There has been no change in the jurisdiction of European Court of Justice rulings in the UK. I have regular exchanges with my EU counterparts on our obligations under the Withdrawal Agreement and the Trade and Cooperation Agreement.

Whether officials in his Department are allowed to use DeepSeek.

I refer the hon. Member to the answer given on 24 March 2025 in response to question UIN 38348.

With reference to his Department's guidance entitled Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality: Publication Guidance, published on 30 January 2025, if he will add large social media companies including (a) X, (b) Meta and (c) Tik Tok to Annex C.

The Cabinet Office publishes a monthly register of all gifts and hospitality received by ministers in a ministerial capacity. This includes gifts and hospitality received by social media companies. The Government keeps the guidance on Ministers' Gifts and Hospitality under review. There are no current plans to include representatives of social media companies under the guidance for senior media figures.