Every parliamentary written question tabled by Richard Holden this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 501–520 of 775 · Cabinet Office
Pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 20702 on Foreign Investment in UK: National Security, if he will publish mitigation measures taken as a result of final orders issued in the last year with the 2024-2025 NSI annual report.
The Government publishes notices of final orders made on GOV.UK - this includes cases that are blocked, unwound, or cleared subject to conditions. The notices include a high level summary of what mitigation measures are imposed on the parties.
Whether the Government plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the Fair Work Agency’s statistical outputs as official statistics.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 31st March is attached.
Pursuant to the Answer of 19 September 2024 to Question 4697 on Civil Servants: Incentives, at what point in the year Cabinet Office civil servants are typically given such incentive payments of shopping vouchers; whether such vouchers can be used for paying utility bills; and how much his Department has spent on Love2Shop Gift Cards since 5 July 2024.
In-year vouchers can be given at any point in the year. The vouchers cannot be directly redeemed for utility bills, but have a wide range of retail outlets where they can be spent. The Cabinet Office does not use Love2Shop vouchers.
Pursuant to the Answer of 29 November 2024 to Question 15471 on Office for Equality and Opportunity: Gender and Sexuality, whether the Civil Service People Group formally recognises any (a) genders, (b) sexual orientations and (c) gender identities.
Data collection on gender identities, genders or sexual orientation is delegated to departments.
Whether the (a) Office for National Statistics, (b) National Audit Office, (c) Northern Ireland Civil Service, (d) Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, (e) GCHQ, (f) MI5, (g) SIS and (h) Crown Commercial Service pay subscription fees to Stonewall.
As the sponsoring department for the following bodies, the Cabinet Office can confirm that the Office for National Statistics, the Public Health Service Ombudsman, and the Crown Commercial Service do not pay subscription fees to Stonewall. All other bodies asked about are not sponsored by the Cabinet Office, and are therefore a matter for their individual sponsoring departments.
Pursuant to the Answer of 26 February 2025 to Question 32268 on Freedom of Information and Parliamentary Questions: Impact Assessment, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that information which is routinely disclosed under the Freedom of Information Act regime is disclosed to Parliament when similar requests for information as made through Parliamentary Questions.
The information that is published in response to Parliamentary Questions is handled on a case by case basis, as is the information that is published in response to any request under the Freedom of Information Act. The Cabinet Office takes seriously both its obligations to Parliament and its obligations under the Freedom of Information Act.
If he will take steps to undertake an audit of whether other Government departments are meeting the publication requirements outlined in the then Prime Minister's letter entitled Government transparency and open data, published on 14 December 2017.
I refer the honourable member to my response to PQ 30681.
Pursuant to the Answer of 16 October 2024 to Question 7760 on Marian Mazzucato, whether she is an adviser to the Government in any other capacity.
Ministers regularly liaise with a wide range of stakeholders. Mariana Mazzucato is not employed within government as a special adviser. Nor does she hold a position in a role as a regulated public appointee.
What guidance he has issued on efficiency savings through reducing spending on public opinion research.
The Prime Minister has set out his ambition to deliver long-term, impactful changes to reshape the British state and the Government is taking forward a number of measures to deliver greater efficiency and transformation in the Civil Service. The Government has announced the first zero-based review of government spending in 17 years, with departments expected to go line-by-line to find savings and efficiencies, including in bodies and agencies that they sponsor. While spending on public opinion research to support evidence-based policy is a matter for individual departments, the Government regularly evaluates the effectiveness of all communication activities to ensure they are delivering and providing the best value for money for taxpayers. An example of this is the recent comprehensive communications Spending Review that delivered savings of £85 million in 2024-25 and up to £96 million in 2025-26.
If he will publish the response to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 request with reference FOI2024/14571.
I refer the Rt Hon Member to the response to PQ23470, PQ25857 and PQ28578. A copy of the information released in FOI2024/14571 relating the special advisers appointments by the Prime Minister has been deposited in the House Library.
Pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 10990 on Civil Servants: Trade Union Officials, whether he plans to increase the amount of facility time to recognised trade unions in his Department following the passage of the Employment Rights Bill.
The Government is committed to ensuring there is sufficient facility time for all trade union representatives in the public sector. Existing guidance remains in place and no decisions have been made about changes to Facility Time in the civil service.
With reference to the Security and Intelligence Agencies Financial Statement 2023-24, published on 2 December 2024, what (a) risks and (b) performance issues were identified during the Performance and Risk Reviews conducted in 2023-24 for those agencies; and what steps he is taking to tackle those risks and issues.
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.
What his planned timeline is for the appointment of a new Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.
The House of Commons leads on the recruitment of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which is ongoing. We expect that further information will be made available shortly.
Whether he plans to use recruitment consultants for staffing test-and-learn teams.
The Test, Learn and Grow Programme will use existing government recruitment channels to staff the programme for the three years of the initiative. This includes the use of loans for existing Civil Servants, and fixed term appointments for external candidates. The programme will also leverage an inward secondment programme for public service delivery experts working near the frontline to help drive public service reform in their field. This scheme will be flexible in terms of duration and location, and specifically for those with experience relevant to the public service reform project. We do not plan to use recruitment consultants for these staffing needs.
Pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8637 on Cabinet Office: Vacancies, whether Mission Senior Responsible Officers have been appointed at a higher salary compared to their previous roles in the civil service.
Senior Responsible Officers for each of the five Missions were selected by the Cabinet Secretary and relevant Permanent Secretary, in consultation with their Secretary of State, on the basis of their expertise and experience. They remain on their current salaries and have not received any increase.
Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 13807 on Cabinet Office: Parliamentary Private Secretaries, if he will breakdown the number of staff in each ministerial private office, by named Minister.
There are 38 staff, at multiple grades, who support the 8 Cabinet Office ministers in private office roles. MinisterNumber of staff in Private OfficeChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster8Minister for the Cabinet Office6Minister Oppong-Asare3Minister Reeves4Minister Gould6Minister Alexander1 (Cabinet Office portfolio only)Leader of the House of Lords3Leader of the House of Commons7
Pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 10987 on Public Sector: Pay, if she will list which non-statutory office holders are paid through the Cabinet Office’s HR and payroll department.
This information is not held centrally.
Whether information about each Department's (a) spending control data and (b) exemptions is held centrally.
A Prime-Ministerial directive, issued in 2010, mandated all departments to publish details of all spend approvals from the Advertising, Marketing and Communications, Commercial, Contingent Labour, Digital and Technology, and National Property controls on a quarterly basis. The Cabinet Office’s publications are at this link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data . HMT Treasury delegates authority to departments to enter into commitments and spend within predefined limits without specific prior approval. Agreements of any exemptions a body holds from the Spend Controls should be recorded in the department’s delegation letter and in the Framework Document, or similar relationship-defining document, between the body and its sponsor department.
Pursuant to the answer of 30 July 2024, to Question 1261, on Senior Civil Servants, if he will publish a breakdown by (a) department and (b) job title of senior civil service jobs (i) offered and (ii) appointed since 30 July 2024, including indicating where a Civil Service recruitment principles exception was applied.
Information on Senior Civil Service appointments is not collated centrally. Departments can run campaigns outside of the central recruitment services through their own Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or processes, or make appointments from existing reserve lists. Therefore, we are unable to provide a full response. Appointments by exception at SCS2 or above must be approved by the Civil Service Commission, details of which are published on the commission’s website.
Whether he plans to issue new guidance on the proportion of the civil service jobs advertised to the public.
In May 2022 the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster wrote to cabinet ministers outlining all Senior Civil Service (SCS) jobs must be advertised externally to the public unless an exemption is approved. This continues to be the policy. As under the previous Government, for appointments below SCS level, departments have the authority to determine how they recruit in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. Again, this continues to be the policy.