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 1,741–1,760 of 2,912 · this parliament
Pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2025 to Question 63329 on Cabinet Office: Electronic Purchasing Card Solution, what the (a) title and (b) purpose of that training was.
The title of the training course was Team Facilitated Conversations.The purpose of the training was for the individual to gain the necessary skills and processes to resolve team conflicts across various sectors.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 July 2025 to Question 66291 on House of Lords Appointments Commission, for what reason members of the Commission have not been appointed.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question 66291, which sets out when the campaign was launched and subsequently closed to applications. The Government announced on 19 August 2025 that, as a result of the campaign, Professor Adeeba Malik CBE DL had been appointed as an independent member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission with effect from 1 September 2025. All candidates who applied as part of this campaign have been notified of the outcome accordingly.
With reference to the College for National Security Privacy Notice published on 19 June 2025, what steps he has taken to ensure that diversity data collected by the College for National Security is not used to inform (a) recruitment, (b) promotion, and (c) access to training decisions, (i) directly and (ii) indirectly.
I refer to my answer for [PQ 69607] provided on [21/07/2025]. CfNS does not at the moment collect diversity data. Personal data is currently collected and processed in line with the College’s Privacy Notice, which can be accessed on GOV.UK here.
Whether the merger of the Payment Services Regulator in the Financial Conduct Authority will require (a) primary and (b) secondary legislation; and what her planned timetable is for completion of that merger.
The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) has carried out important work to support the UK’s world leading payments sector. However, moving forward, the Government wishes to see a more streamlined regulatory environment with minimal overlap between regulators’ responsibilities. That is why the Government has announced its intentions to consolidate the PSR and its functions primarily within the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The Government will consult on the details of this measure shortly. The consolidation of the PSR into the FCA will require primary legislation, which will be brought forward as soon as parliamentary time allows. The PSR and FCA are already taking steps to realise the benefits of a more streamlined regulatory framework, including creating a new joint PSR/FCA payments executive director; updating the Memorandum of Understanding between the PSR, the FCA, the Bank of England and the PRA; jointly progressing Open Banking; and undertaking joint stakeholder engagement.
Whether the Public Appointments Commission has issued guidance on the declaration of significant political activity for regulated appointments.
The Commissioner for Public Appointments has not issued guidance on the publication of declarations of political activity. As set out in previous answers, rules on political activity by prospective or existing public appointees are already clearly set out within both the Governance Code on Public Appointments and the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies, and the process for declaring interests, including how they should be published by departments, is also set out in detail on Gov.uk.
Pursuant to the Answer of 26 June 2025 to Question 62083 on House of Lords Appointments Commission, on what date the public appointments process opened; whether it has been extended; and whether any people who applied have been informed that they have not been appointed.
I refer the Hon Member to the answer to Question 66291, which sets out when the campaign was launched and subsequently closed to applications. The Government announced on 19 August 2025 that, as a result of the campaign, Professor Adeeba Malik CBE DL had been appointed as an independent member of the House of Lords Appointments Commission with effect from 1 September 2025. All candidates who applied as part of this campaign have been notified of the outcome accordingly.
Pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2025 to Question 64566 on Arms Length Bodies, whether exempted expenditure will be published in one location; how it will be published; and when it will be published.
Expenditure which is exempted under the requirements of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Expenditure Guidance must be reported to the Cabinet Office by departments and ALBs who employ civil servants. Reported expenditure is published annually.
For what reason the Cabinet Secretary has delegated his attendance to the Main Honours Committee.
The Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service is responsible for the operation of the honours system, but as is customary, delegates this responsibility to another senior Permanent Secretary.
Pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 62769 on Companies House: Databases, whether Companies House plans to remove entry 08881386 from the register.
Companies House will take appropriate action using the powers available whenever suspicious information is brought to its attention or identified by internal checks.The company in question was dissolved in 2018 and does not form part of the Register of Companies, though its records will remain available for 20 years.Companies House will act to remove inaccurate information relating to the company in question from the public records.
What guidance his Department provides on holding departmental receptions at the offices of consultant lobbying firms.
The Ministerial Code sets out guidance for Ministers on engaging with external stakeholders. Separate guidance relating to the regulation of consultant lobbying is published by the Office of the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists.
Pursuant to the Answer of 23 July 2025 to Question HL9412 on Heathrow Airport: Planning Permission, what the provisional timetable is for the review of the Airports National Policy Statement; and what her planned target date is for (a) publication for consultation and (b) ratification by Parliament of a revised National Policy Statement.
The Government published a letter to potential promoters inviting proposals for a third runway at Heathrow to be brought forward by the summer. The Government is now assessing the proposals against the criteria set out in the letter. Once this is complete the Government will move quickly to review the Airports National Policy Statement. We cannot speculate on the timings of the review at this stage, however when conducting the review, the Secretary of State will comply with the requirements in the Planning Act 2008, including consultation, publicity and parliamentary requirements.
Pursuant to the Answer of 8 July 2025 to Question HL8627 on Cabinet Office: Managers, which business units the 540 staff leaving are from.
The 540 refers to the number of applications that were approved and is subject to the individual's final acceptance. The voluntary exit process has not yet concluded, so we are unable to report on which business units individuals will be leaving from.
What estimate he has made of the cost to the civil service of the requirement in the Employment Rights Bill to provide (a) additional facility time to trade unions and (b) facility time for equality representatives.
In October 2024 the government published impact assessments on the trade union-related measures within the Employment Rights Bill and these are available here: Employment Rights Bill: impact assessments - GOV.UK
Pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2025 to Question 63327 on Cabinet Office: Directors, if he has considered making the Government Lead Non Executive a member of his Department's board.
A model has been established whereby Baroness Casey, who was appointed as Government Lead Non-Executive on 3 January 2025, will not sit on the Cabinet Office Board. Instead, she will maintain a roving brief across government supporting ministerial priorities and non-executive board members.
Whether her Department has a policy on airlines using (a) individualized and (b) surveillance pricing when setting air fares.
The UK aviation market operates predominantly in the private sector with the cost of flights determined by airlines according to a range of factors. The Minister for Aviation and officials from the Department for Transport meet regularly with airlines to discuss a range of topics, including pricing. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has statutory competition functions in relation to airline markets. In addition, the CMA and the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) both have responsibilities for enforcing consumer protections relating to price transparency, contract terms and passenger rights, including those during flight disruption.
How many staff work in the New Media Unit; and what the annual budget for that unit is.
The New Media Unit currently has 19 FTE, of which 17 are permanent and 2 are loanees. Assuming the NMU is fully staffed with a consistent grade mix, throughout the financial year the annual salary costs currently would be circa £1.28 million.
When he plans to respond to Question 43120, tabled on 1 April 2025, on Honours: Forfeiture.
The answer to question 43120 was published on 1 September 2025.
For what reason page 38 of the document entitled Government Function: People, Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework, updated on 30 June 2025, refers to gender rather than sex.
The document entitled Government Function: People, Continuous Improvement Assessment Framework uses the term gender on the basis that this refers to the legally required business publication of Gender Pay Gap reporting as per the Equality Act 2010.
With reference to the press release of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament of 1 May 2025, and pursuant to the Answer of 3 June 2025 to Question 54011 on Intelligence and Security Committee, what assessment he has made of the potential implications for his Department’s policies of the Committee's representation to the Government that safeguards against conflicts of interest have now been comprehensively dismantled.
Established processes are in place to monitor and manage actual and perceived conflicts of interest.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 February 2025 to Question 29554 on Prison Accommodation, how many prison places were created as a result of crowding between (a) May 1997 and (b) 2010.
The previous Labour Government added nearly 28,000 places to the prison estate between 1997 and 2010. However, available records do not provide a breakdown for these figures of these places by category. It is therefore not possible to provide the number of places created through crowding. Prison crowding data is published annually in Annex 2 of the HMPPS Annual Digest, April 2024 to March 2025 - GOV.UK. This publication provides the percentage of prisoners held in crowded accommodation in each year in each prison since 1999. There is no earlier information on crowding available. This Government is delivering the largest expansion of prison places since the Victorian era – with 2,500 new spaces already delivered and 14,000 on track for delivery by 2031.