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 2,001–2,020 of 2,860 · this parliament
Pursuant to the Answer of 10 April 2025 to Question HL6032 on Arm's Length Bodies, whether the Child Protection Authority for England will be a new public body.
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Home Office, Minister Jess Phillips, announced on 8 April that the Government will establish a new Child Protection Authority which will be delivered from within the Child Safeguarding Practice Review Panel. It is not currently planned to be an arm’s-length body.
With reference to the publication entitled DHSC register of board members' interests, 2024 to 2025, published on 16 January 2025, who the health and social care related clients of A.M. Strategy Ltd are.
Declarations of interest, and any updates to them, are published in the Register of Interests in the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts, and on the GOV.UK website, in alignment with Government policy.
With reference to his Department's press release entitled New DHSC Permanent Secretary Appointed, published on 22 April 2025, whether the new Permanent Secretary was appointed by (a) open and fair competition, (b) temporary appointment and (c) exception.
The Department launched a fair and open competition to appoint a Permanent Secretary in January 2025. As a result of this process, Samantha Jones was found to be an appointable candidate for this role. However, during the recruitment process it was announced that NHS England would be brought back into the Department. This significantly changed the scale and objectives required of this role. In light of these changes the Civil Service Commission agreed a three-year fixed term appointment by exception, on the Senior Civil Service Model contract.
What proportion of regulated public appointments have had substantive information published on who the members of the appointments advisory panel are since 4 July 2024.
The Governance Code on Public Appointments sets out guidance on the role and composition of Advisory Assessment Panels. The Code requires, for all regulated public appointment competitions, that there should be full transparency of the Advisory Assessment Panel. Departments generally publish such details via the public appointments digital service on gov.uk as part of the details of the adverts for individual roles.
Whether (a) Crown Representatives and (b) Health Crown Representatives are required to make declarations of political activity when they are appointed.
All Crown Representatives complete conflict of interest declarations on appointment and then every six months.
How many civil service roles for the Mission Boards are unfilled.
Delivering the Missions is a task for the entire government. The Prime Minister has established five Mission Boards which bring together ministers from across government to drive progress on missions. They are chaired by the respective lead Secretaries of State, and attendance varies depending on the topic being discussed by the Board. As such, there are no unfilled civil service roles for the Mission Boards. Directors General (DGs) have been appointed as Senior Responsible Officers for each of the Missions. Relevant departments are responsible for resourcing the delivery of policies and programmes related to the Missions. The Cabinet Office’s Mission Delivery Unit works in partnership with the Missions to support delivery and drive progress.
How many (a) Permanent Secretary and (b) Second Permanent Secretary roles are (i) being advertised through open and fair competition, (ii) have advertised but the recruitment is now closed and the appointment has not yet been made, (iii) are being advertised only internally and (iv) are unfilled with no recruitment process.
There are six Permanent Secretary roles currently being advertised through fair and open competition: five have closed and waiting final interviews, and one is live on CS Jobs. There is one Permanent Secretary level role that has been advertised internally only (Secret Intelligence Service). There is one Second Permanent Secretary role (DSIT) that is currently unfilled with no recruitment process underway.
Whether her Department has provided guidance to the police on pro-Palestinian encampments at universities.
The College of Policing is responsible for providing guidance to police.The College’s Public Order Public Safety authorised professional practice covers a wide range of events and operations, including protests and disorder.
What proportion of regulated public appointments are published on the Apply for a public appointment gov.uk page.
All regulated public appointments that are made through open competition are advertised on the public appointments Apply for a Public Appointment webpage on Gov.uk.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the Government Art Collection (a) reference number and (b) title is of each item (i) installed and (ii) removed from each (A) Embassy, (B) High Commission and (C) residence since 4 July 2024.
The Government Art Collection is a working collection, used across government buildings in the UK and the global estate, which means that artworks may change their display location from time to time in response to new display steers and requests.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, how his Department distributed the 500,000 beer mats to pubs.
For the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage awareness campaign, 500,000 beer mats were distributed to 1,000 pubs across the country. Distribution targeted areas with high concentrations of minimum and living wage workers, identified through HMRC underpayment complaint data and ONS data on pay. Our distribution partners delivered directly to selected venues in these priority locations to maximise campaign effectiveness and reaching those directly eligible for the increase in the wage and those who could share this important information with friends and family members.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department engages with Client Earth.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office engages with a range of non-governmental organisations on environmental issues, including ClientEarth. For example, in February we hosted ClientEarth and other conservation organisations for a roundtable discussion as part of our consultation on the UK's approach to Africa.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, which advertising channels were used to promote the Millions got a pay rise campaign.
The advertising channels used for the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign include radio, community radio, paid search, online video, paid social, programmatic digital display, digital influencer activity, and out-of-home advertising such as bus and train advertising panels, gym advertising panels and hospitality environments. Our channels are planned and carefully considered to ensure we can reach the right audiences, including using the learnings from previous campaigns.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224, on Pay: Publicity, what the total cost is for Millions get a pay rise campaign; whether it was approved under communications spending controls; and what the cost was for the beer mats.
The 2025 National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage campaign is running until 31 May 2025 and is budgeted to cost up to £650,000. This was approved under Cabinet Office’s advertising, marketing and communications spending controls. The cost to advertise in pubs using beer mats was £35,580, which was approved at Official level.The 2024 campaign saw an increase in reach to eligible workers. However, recognition remained low, reinforcing the need for bolder, more engaging formats for the 2025 campaign, which expected to deliver an estimated 3.2 million impressions.It offered a unique opportunity to engage audiences in a social, high-dwell environment where financial conversations naturally occur. This setting encourages discussion and word-of-mouth sharing about rate changes and offers an effective nudge for audiences to "check their pay."
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, if he will place a copy of the business case for the Millions got a pay rise campaign in the Library.
My department’s final stage impact assessment (IA) in respect of The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025, was laid in draft before Parliament on 4 February and is available on GOV.UK. It provides the high-level rationale for the campaign, which is to increase awareness and understanding of the changes to the rates that came into effect on 1 April 2025. The campaign supports the policy objectives by minimising compliance costs and ensuring that the benefits are realised, including a direct pay rise for over 3 million workers. The Impact Assessment can be viewed here: The National Minimum Wage (Amendment) Regulations 2025 - Impact Assessment
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has had discussions with Inter Mediate on de-sanctioning the Syrian regime since July 2024.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office does not routinely disclose the content of private discussions with external organisations.
When (a) vacancies were announced for the members of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and (b) the application process (i) closed and (ii) was cancelled; what the status is of the competition; and how many members are vacant.
The campaign to recruit up to two independent members to the Commission went live on 3 January 2025 and closed on 3 February 2025. Ministers are currently considering the next steps in this campaign and it remains open.
Whether the Government learning framework includes training on equality, diversity and inclusion.
Like any employer, we offer a range of learning and development opportunities to give staff the skills they need to succeed in their roles, but courses must be assessed for value for money, and clear justifications must be provided for procuring learning and development activity. The Government Learning Frameworks catalogue of training courses and L&D services is available online at the Prospectus Online. This includes the Civil Service Expectations course, which is recommended to all Civil Servants as an introduction to the Civil Service code and values, the Equality Act 2010, and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. There are other courses that contain elements of equality, diversity or inclusion, but to identify all courses that make reference to these topics would come at a disproportionate cost.
With reference to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament's press release of 1 May 2025, whether he plans to update the Committee's Memorandum of Understanding.
The Deputy National Security Adviser wrote to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) on 23 May 2024 welcoming the Committee’s views on the Memorandum of Understanding between the ISC and the Prime Minister, as required in the National Security Act 2023.We will consider any response the Committee shares and provide a further update in due course.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether there is a consolidated public list of each (a) public authority and (b) private body with public functions that is subject to the Environmental Information Regulations.
No. There is no consolidated, public list of relevant bodies. Bodies are made subject to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) through the definition in regulation 2(2), rather than by designation. The Information Commissioner has jurisdiction to both investigate and decide whether a body is a public authority for these purposes. This definitional approach requires a contextual inquiry. The Commissioner’s decision may be subject to appeal through the courts. At best, a list of public authorities would be incomplete and rapidly out of date. Most public authorities subject to the EIR are listed by name or category in Schedule 1 to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.