Written questions by Holden.

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.

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.

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.

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 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

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.

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 25 November 2024 to Question 13808 on 9 Downing Street: Media, whether refurbishment works had been commissioned when this Answer was given.

No refurbishment works had been commissioned.

Pursuant to the answer of 27 December 2024 to Question 20832 on Special Advisers: Pay, if he will ensure that the list of special advisers is published by 31 March 2025.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to my response to PQ 20832 and PQ 22188.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 19415 on Ed Miliband, whether the Rt Hon Member for Islington North (a) made an application for and (b) received a severance payment.

Ministers and certain office-holders are entitled to a severance payment when they leave office under the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991. As set out in the Act, to be eligible to receive the payment ministers and office-holders must be under the age of 65 when they leave office. Under this provision, the Rt Hon Member for Islington North was not eligible to receive a severance payment when he left the role of Leader of the Opposition in 2020.

Whether Baroness Casey made a declaration of political activity following her appointment as Lead Non-Executive Director.

Baroness Casey followed the published process for declaring any interests.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-executive-board-member-declaration-of-interests-process/non-executive-board-member-declaration-of-interests-process#contextInterests will be published in due course on the department’s website.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21403 on Cabinet Office: Pay, whether the mean salary of civil servants in the (a) Women's Equality Unit, (b) Race Disparity Unit and (c) Disability Unit will be included in the Government's transparency reporting.

Details of Cabinet Office structure and salaries are due to be published by the end of January 2025 as part of regular transparency reporting. This will include the Office for Equality and Opportunities and within it the sub units of: Women’s Equality Unit, Race Disparity Unit, and Disability Unit. As was the case under the previous administration, the Cabinet Office does not specifically publish the mean salaries of these civil servants.

If he will publish of the questionnaire form that incoming Ministers are asked to provide to the Propriety and Ethics Team.

The established process for the declaration and management of ministers’ private interests is set out in Part B Chapter 3 of the Ministerial Code. Details of the categories ministers are asked to declare their interests in can be found in the List of Ministers’ Interests, along with more information on the interests process. The last list was published in November 2024 and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67407bad53373262c0d825f6/List_of_Ministers__Interests.pdf

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.

Whether any internship programmes at (a) MI5, (b) M16 and (c) GCHQ were open to people from white British backgrounds.

Yes. In recent years, UKIC has run a number of internships and placement schemes. They are designed to provide insight about what it is like to work in UKIC to individuals who have particular skills and expertise, want to work in a particular area and/or are from demographics and backgrounds under-represented across Government. Any internship participant wishing to subsequently apply for employment with UKIC or the Civil Service is required to take part in a fair and open competition, in the normal way, with selection based on merit.

What guidance he has provided to Government departments on publishing details of individual Civil Service pensions for senior officials under (a) Financial Reporting requirements and (b) the Freedom of Information Act.

In relation to what guidance the Cabinet Office has provided to government departments on publishing details of individual Civil Service pensions for senior officials: (a) Financial Reporting requirements - The Cabinet Office issues an ‘Employer Pension Notice’ (EPN) to government departments each year, so they can provide the disclosure of Senior Civil Servants' pensions under their Financial Reporting requirements. (b) Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - I refer the right honourable member to the answer given in 15229 answered on 29 November 2024. The Cabinet Office has not issued either internal or external guidance on whether FOIA requests requesting information on senior civil servants should be disclosed. All requests are considered on their own merits in all circumstances.

With reference to the Answer of 2 May 2023 to Question 182119 on Cabinet Office: Training, if he will take steps to encourage other public sector employers to phase out unconscious bias training.

The government is committed to an evidence based approach to training. In 2021 the previous administration published a report on the efficacy of unconscious bias training with recommendations on alternative approaches to support workforce equality. At the time other public sector organisations were encouraged to take account of this.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unconscious-bias-and-diversity-training-what-the-evidence-says There has been no change in the approach under this government