Every parliamentary written question tabled by Gregory Stafford this session, with the full answer and department. Back to the MP page.
Showing 1–14 of 14 · Cabinet Office
Whether Yoti has any current contracts for cross-Government digital identity programmes.
Details of central government contracts above £12,000 for procurements commenced before 24 February 2025 are published on Contracts Finder. Contracts procured under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025, are published on the Central Digital Platform Find a Tender service.
If he will set out who assesses the value for money of Arm's Length Bodies.
Value for money in Arm's Length Bodies (ALBs) is primarily assessed by their sponsoring department. The Accounting Officer (typically the Chief Executive Officer) is directly accountable for the use of public funds. ALBs are also scrutinised by Parliament and subject to independent audit, including value for money examinations, by the National Audit Office (NAO).
To whom Arm's Length Bodies report annually.
Arm’s Length Bodies (ALBs) are accountable to their sponsoring Minister and parent department. Their annual Reports and accounts are typically laid before Parliament.
What is the cost of Arm's Length Bodies to the public purse for the latest year for which data is available.
The UK government budgeted £369.78 billion for arms length bodies in the financial year 2023-24. 67% of this went to NHS England and the Education and Skills Funding Agency, which will both be repatriated to their parent departments.
Whether the Government plans to make the Civil Service Recruitment Framework (2022) publicly available.
I refer to my predecessor’s answer for 100338, published 23 December 2025. There are no plans to publish this internal-facing framework to the public domain, as it constitutes HR-to-HR guidance designed for departments to integrate into their respective policies and processes.
Whether he has made an assessment of the potential tax implications for recipients for civil of service pensions due to Capita delays with payments.
The Cabinet Office acknowledges the potential tax implications regarding pension arrears. For the vast majority of members, receiving arrears will not result in a higher tax liability as they will remain within the same tax band across the relevant years. However, where an arrears payment causes a member to move into a higher tax bracket in the year of receipt, individuals may request a schedule from the scheme administrator (Capita) to submit to HMRC.This schedule allows HMRC to assess the tax on an accruals basis, spreading the income back to the years in which it was due to ensure the member pays the correct amount of tax.
What assessment he has made of the trend in the levels of timeliness of Civil Service Pension payments since Capita took over administration of the MyCSP system on 1 December 2025.
Capita took over the administration on 1 December 2025. Since then, Capita has completed pension payments to approximately 730,000 retired members on time. However, some civil servants and pension scheme members are facing unacceptable delays in accessing their pension payments. While Capita inherited a significant backlog of cases from the previous provider, MyCSP, this is now worse and we are urgently addressing that. In response, we have set up a dedicated team to work urgently with Capita, with 650 full time staff across Government and Capita clearing critical cases by the end of February and restoring normal service as soon as possible. We have agreed a clear recovery plan with Capita, which includes specific milestones and accountability targets for delivery. This includes specific commitments to restore service levels for priority cases, deploy additional resources, and improve communication with affected colleagues, so that staff, both former and serving, receive the quality of service and support they deserve.
What guidance his Department provides on financial settlements for public appointments that are cancelled or withdrawn.
There are a wide variety of public appointments which are made by Ministers. A person appointed to such a position is an office holder, whose appointment is defined by the office itself, not a contract. An office holder’s terms of engagement will set out a Minister’s authority to terminate an appointment at any time with or without notice. Office holders do not receive payment in lieu of notice or severance for loss of office because they are not employees with contractual rights.
Whether he has had recent discussions with the Advertising Standards Authority on tackling misleading advertising by commercial intermediaries offering access to government services.
The Minister for the Cabinet Office has not had any recent discussions with the Advertising Standards Authority specifically relating to this topic.
Whether his Department has made an estimate of the number of (a) third-party organisations and (b) quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations that charge for facilitating access to free government services.
Information on third-party organisations and quasi-autonomous non-governmental organisations that charge for facilitating access to services provided free of charge is not held by the Cabinet Office.
Whether the Government has considered establishing a regulatory framework for third-party entities that charge for assisting with (a) Government transactions, (b) DVLA licence renewals and (c) passport applications.
It is for those departments providing services to the public to ensure that third parties do not mislead citizens into making additional or unnecessary payments for accessing those services.
If he will make it his policy to prohibit (a) Government agencies and (b) Departments from (i) engaging and (ii) endorsing commercial intermediaries that charge users for access to otherwise free public services.
It is for those departments providing services to the public to ensure that third parties do not mislead citizens into making additional or unnecessary payments for accessing those services.
What steps his Department is taking to prevent unofficial websites from charging fees for government services that are otherwise free of charge.
It is for those departments providing services to the public to ensure that third parties do not mislead citizens into making additional or unnecessary payments for accessing those services.
Whether his Department holds data on the number of days of strike action by council waste and recycling workers in each of the last three financial years.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon Gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 4th October 2024 is attached.