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 621–640 of 775 · Cabinet Office
What the cost to the public purse was of repainting the Downing Street media room.
Information will be published in due course in the Cabinet Office’s dataset detailing expenditure above £25,000, which is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data.
With reference to his Department's guidance entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, published on 15 March 2018, which of the three tests in Chapter 2 the Regulatory Innovation Office meets.
The Regulatory Innovation Office is not an arm’s length body. On 8 October 2024, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology announced that the Regulatory Innovation Office would be set up as an office within the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14636, on Prime Minister: Tiktok, what meetings Downing Street special advisers have had with (a) senior media executives and (b) other executives from Tiktok that are not due to be routinely published on gov.uk transparency returns.
In line with longstanding process, relevant meetings are declared in the Special Advisor transparency publications.
Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 18205 on Former Prime Ministers: Convictions, and with reference to paragraph 1.6 of the Ministerial Code, if the Prime Minister will take steps to correct the record of his oral contribution of 4 December 2024, Official Report, column 291.
I refer the Rt Hon Member to my answer of 8 January 2025, Official Report, PQ 18205. The Prime Minister stands by the relevance of raising to the attention of the House that two former Conservative Prime Ministers were fined by the police for breaking the COVID rules that they put in place for others.
Whether the Ministerial residence in 11 Downing Street pays council tax as a (a) sole or main residence, (b) single person discount and (c) second home.
The Prime Minister is allocated the flat in 11 Downing Street and personally pays full council tax.
Whether any products originating from China are stocked by the 10 Downing Street gift shop.
Most suppliers of the 10 Downing Street gift shop are British companies, and many of the items are made in the UK. A very small number of items are manufactured overseas, including China. This was the case under the previous government.
Pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2024 to Question 10436 on Special Advisers: Training and with reference to the Freedom of Information Act request with reference FOI2024/14571, for what reason the requested information was released under the Freedom of Information Act; and if he will publish that response.
All Freedom of Information requests are considered on their individual merits in accordance with the relevant legislation. A copy of the information released in the response will be deposited in the House Library.
With reference to the Cabinet Secretary Letter to UK Government Ministers of 3 October 2024 on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, for what reason Ministers were told not to take part in the public debate.
The Cabinet Secretary’s letter set out for Ministers the Prime Minister’s decision on the government’s approach to legislation on assisted dying. As the letter said, collective responsibility on the merits of this Bill have been set aside and the Government will therefore continue to remain neutral on the passage of the Bill and on the matter of assisted dying. The letter was clear that the matter of assisted dying is one for Parliament and not Ministers to decide.
Pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 21256 on Film: Marketing, where on gov.uk her Department plans to publish departmental spending on (a) branding and (b) official events.
Departmental spending that meets the criteria are published in gov.uk transparency data publications, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cabinet-office-spend-data
If he will issue new guidance to (a) the civil service and (b) public bodies to prevent practices which limit (i) recruitment and (ii) internships on the basis of protected characteristics.
Individual departments are responsible for recruitment decisions and they are required to meet all obligations of relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. If a department wants to restrict an internship programme to a specific group or groups, it would be expected to ensure on a case by case basis that it complies with the relevant legislation. As a result, as was the case under the previous administration, no central guidance is provided on this matter.
Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14712 on Honours: Public Appointments, if he will list the assessment panel members for each of those competitions (a) before they closed and (b) after they re-opened.
Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14712 on Honours: Public Appointments, the assessment panel members for each of the competitions mentioned (a) before they closed and (b) after they re-opened are as follows: (i) Community and Voluntary Service:Panel before the advert closed: The Rt Hon Nick Hurd - Chair, Community and Voluntary Service Honours Committee; Meenal Sachdev - Co-Founder of Connect India (independent panel member); Alison Bennett - (then) Deputy Director, Honours and Appointments Secretariat, Cabinet Office.Panel after advert re-opened: The Rt Hon Nick Hurd - Chair, Community and Voluntary Service Honours Committee; Vijay Krishnarayan - former Director, Commonwealth Foundation (independent panel member); Official from the Honours and Memorialisation Secretariats, Cabinet Office. (ii) Parliamentary and Political Service:Panel before the advert closed: Lord Sherbourne - Chair, Parliamentary and Political Service Honours Committee; Natascha Engel - former MP (independent panel member); Alison Bennett - (then) Deputy Director, Honours and Appointments Secretariat.Panel after advert re-opened: Lord Sherbourne - Chair, Parliamentary and Political Service Honours Committee; Natascha Engel - former MP (independent panel member); Clare Brunton OBE - Deputy Director, Honours and MemorialisationSecretariats. (iii) Diversity and Outreach (formerly called Representation and Outreach):Panel before advert closed: Sir Chris Wormald KCB - (then) Chair, Main Honours Committee, Mary Mcleod - CEO, Business in the Community; Alison Bennett - (then) Deputy Director, Honours and Appointments Secretariat, Cabinet Office.Panel after advert reopened: Sir Chris Wormald KCB - (then) Chair, Main Honours Committee (this was what was advertised - he will now be replaced by Dame Tamara Finkelstein as the new Chair, Main Honours Committee); Official from the Honours and Memorialisation Secretariats. The independent panel member has not yet been confirmed. As is longstanding practice, officials in the delegated grades (i.e. who are not Senior Civil Servants) are not normally named publicly.
With reference to the Answer of 19 November 2024 to Question HL2339, on Cabinet Office: TikTok, how many staff are assigned to the New Media Unit; whether it includes special advisers; and whether it is based inside (a) 10 Downing Street and (b) the Cabinet Office.
The New Media Unit will initially draw expertise through departmental staff loans and will sit within the Cabinet Office with oversight from the Prime Minister's Office.
Whether he plans to lay an Official Statistics Order to designate Skills England’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 13th January is attached.
Pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2024 to Question 10698 on Ministers: Official Residences, who was allocated Admiralty House on a time limited basis.
Between 9 September 2024 and 4 November 2024 one of the flats in Admiralty House was allocated to the Secretary of State for Defence, on a limited time basis.
Pursuant to the Answer of 27 December 2024 to Question 20828 on the National Security Adviser, whether the new National Security Adviser (a) attends, (b) chairs and (c) otherwise participates in any Cabinet (i) committees and (ii) subcommittees; whether he has any role in the (A) preparation, (B) drafting, (C) clearance and (D) approval of (1) agenda items, (2) minutes and (3) other documentation related to Cabinet (a) committee and (b) subcommittee meetings; and for what reason he was appointed as a special adviser rather than as a civil servant.
It is a long-established precedent that information about the discussions that have taken place in Cabinet and its committees, their attendance, and how often they have met, is not normally shared publicly. The appointment of special advisers is at the discretion of the Prime Minister in compliance with the relevant codes.
Whether his Department has issued recent guidance on the appointment of consultant lobbyists as non-executive directors of Government Departments.
There has been no change to the guidance or rules relating to the appointment of non-executive directors of Government Departments since the General Election.
What estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions on the Duchy of Lancaster.
Information about the Duchy of Lancaster's accounts will be published by the Duchy in the usual way.
Pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2024 to Question HL2771 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of crown servant internships not being open those of white British backgrounds on community relations, in the context of Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.
Individual departments are responsible for recruitment decisions and they are required to meet all obligations of relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. If a department wants to restrict an internship programme to a specific group or groups, it would be expected to ensure that it complies with the relevant legislation. As each case will be unique, a generic assessment would not be appropriate. This approach has not changed since when the Rt Hon member was a minister in the department.
Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 19414 on Non-departmental Public Bodies, how many non-departmental public bodies the Government plans to (a) open and (b) close.
As said in my previous answer of 8 January 2025, Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established Arm’s Length Bodies, including NDPBs. Individual departments are responsible for any proposals to open or close NDPBs.
Pursuant to the Answer of (a) 6 January 2025 to Question 21057 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Unpaid Work and (b) 20 November 2024 to Question 14502 on Gender: Equality, whether guidance is provided to Government departments on the potential situations in which it would be permissible for access to internship schemes to be restricted to people from non-white backgrounds.
Individual departments are responsible for recruitment decisions and they are required to meet all obligations of relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. If a department wants to restrict an internship programme to a specific group or groups, it would be expected to ensure on a case by case basis that it complies with the relevant legislation. As a result, as was the case under the previous administration, no central guidance is provided on this matter.