Written questions by Dewhirst.

Communities and Local Government, Pursuant to the answer of 5 September 2024, to Question 2635, on Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government: Public Expenditure, what changes she plans to make to the Cambridge Growth programme; and what assessment she has made of the potential impact of changes in funding of that programme on (a) housebuilding and (b) development in Cambridgeshire.

I made clear the Government’s intention to realise the full potential of Greater Cambridge in a letter to local leaders published on 23 August and I visited the city to discuss matters with them, as well as meet other stakeholders, on 12 September.Working collaboratively with local partners, we are determined to support ambitious and high-quality sustainable growth in Greater Cambridge and to help overcome the significant barriers that have held up planned development for essential housing and laboratory space.We will set out further detail about our approach in due course.

Pursuant to the answer of 2 September 2024, to Question 2636, on NHS England: Communication and Management Consultants and with reference to the document entitled Fixing the foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, published by HM Treasury on 29 July 2024, whether savings in that document include reducing NHS spending on consultancy and communications.

The document, Fixing the foundations: Public spending audit 2024-25, published by HM Treasury, set out the request for departments to identify savings. The Department is exploring options across all budgets within its remit to identify savings to contribute to pressures revealed in the audit document. This includes, but is not exclusive to, taking action to reduce non-essential consultancy and communications spending.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 September 2024, to Question 2632, on Civil Service: Staff, whether he has a target (a) headcount and (b) FTE size for the civil service.

Decisions on the future size of the Civil Service will form a part of the comprehensive Spending Review.

Pursuant to the answer of 6 September 2024 to Question 2639 on Civil Servants: Recruitment and Training, what guidance (a) the Government Equalities Office, (b) his Department and (c) the Government People Group has issued to Departments on reducing consultancy spending on equality, diversity and inclusion.

The Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance published on 14 May 2024 remains in place.

How much her Department has spent on (a) branding, (b) communications and (c) marketing in relation to her Fixing the Foundation (i) announcement, (ii) speech and (iii) documentation.

The Department's in-house communications team is responsible for producing branding and communicating key messages as part of its core function. Any costs related to the Chancellor’s Fixing the Foundations announcement and speech were met within the Department's existing communications budget.The cost of typesetting the Fixing the Foundations: public spending audit 2024-25 document and printing copies of this and supplementary publications to be made available to MPs and Members of the House of Lords on the day of the statement was met within the Department's existing printing budget.