Written questions by Wood.

Whether Ministers are allowed to engage with the Muslim Council of Britain in a (a) Parliamentary or (b) political capacity.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 17 March 2026, Official Report, PQ 118753.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 March 2026 to Question 118530 on Baroness Limb, what discussions (a) 10 Downing Street and (b) the Cabinet Office has had with Baroness Limb on whether she intends to take up her seat and receive the Writ of Summons.

It would not be appropriate to comment on whether there have been any private discussions.

Pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2025, to Question 43463,on Prime Minister: Email, whether emails which are removed from staff inboxes after 90 days remain accessible on the Microsoft server by the Downing Street IT department.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 12 May 2025, Official Report, PQ 49752.

Pursuant to the answer of 9 April 2025, to Question 43463, on Prime Minister: Email, what steps have been taken to ensure that Downing Street emails in scope of the Humble Address do not automatically delete after 90 days and are retained.

I refer you to the Government's response to the Urgent Question tabled on 12th February, the Written Ministerial Statement in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister that same day, and the Oral Statement on the 23rd February, in the name of the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, which set out an update on the Government's process and that Departments have been instructed to retain material that may be relevant to the motion.

Pursuant to the Answer of 4 March 2026 to Question 116167 on Peers, if he will set out how the removal from the Roll of the Peerage relates to the status of a peer under the preamble to the House of Lords Precedence Act 1539.

The Roll of the Peerage is an officially maintained list of living peers; removal from the Roll determines whether a title can be used in official documents and the precedence attached to it. The 1539 Act concerns the seating and internal precedence of members within the House of Lords. As noted in Erskine May, these arrangements are in practice modified in line with modern arrangements in the House. Removal from the Roll of the Peerage does not change an individual’s legal right to a peerage, nor their eligibility to membership of and a seat in the House, which can only be removed by an Act of Parliament.

Whether the Prime Minister made consideration of personally interviewing Lord Mandelson for the role of Ambassador, before Lord Mandelson was appointed.

The relevant process in place at the time for a political appointee was followed. There was no requirement for a formal interview with the Prime Minister as part of that process.

Pursuant to the Answer of 17 March 2026, to Question 119062, on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, what were the specific (a) Freedom of Information Act and (b) UK GDPR exemptions that were applied to exempt the information from publication.

Minor redactions were made to the temporarily withdrawn file, which contained references to a number of individuals, to comply with the following Freedom of Information Act exemptions: section 37(1)(a); section 37(1)(aa); section 37(1)(ab); section 40(2) and section 41.

Further to the Government response to the Humble Address on Lord Mandelson, Volume 1, whether electronic messages in media other than emails will be included in a future Volume to the Return.

I refer the Hon Member to the Government's statement and release of information on 11th March, providing an update on the response to the Humble Address. The Government is working to ensure that Parliament’s instruction is met with the urgency and transparency that it deserves.

Pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2026, to Question 98795, on Deputy Prime Minister: Admiralty House, if he will place in the Library the letter from the Government Property Agency to Westminster City Council sent in June 2025.

I refer the Honorable Member to the response to PQ 105774

Whether any changes are being made to the requirements of Whitehall departments and their agencies to publish trade union facility time information in their annual report and accounts, and the broader collection of such data by departments.

The current published HMT financial reporting manual (FReM) requires organisations in scope of FReM to report facility time data in their annual accounts. However, the FReM requirement is linked to the Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017. These regulations were repealed on 18 February 2026, when the relevant provisions of the Employment Rights Act 2025 came into force.Therefore, Whitehall departments and agencies do not need to report facility time in their accounts published following the repeal.

Whether the No10 private office uses disappearing messages on its corporate (a) WhatsApp and (b) Signal messaging.

All official business should be conducted using official systems wherever possible. Where official information is created or received on non corporate communication devices, it must be handled in accordance with records management requirements, as set out on gov.uk: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-corporate-communication-channels-for-government-business/using-non-corporate-communication-channels-eg-whatsapp-private-email-sms-for-government-business-html

Whether the Propriety and Ethics Team utilised AI tools to produce due diligence on Lord Mandelson.

I refer the Hon Member to the former Cabinet Secretary’s letter to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of 30 October: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50019/documents/269409/default/

Whether the input of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office was requested by the Cabinet Office Propriety and Ethics Team in producing the due diligence on Lord Mandelson.

I refer the Hon Member to the former Cabinet Secretary’s letter to the Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee of 30 October: https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/50019/documents/269409/default/

What steps the Prime Minister’s Office takes to retain information relating to Ministerial submissions; and whether Prime Ministerial feedback on a submission is copied to and recorded on the internal PMPost system.

As has been the case under successive administrations, there are a range of different ways that ministers respond to advice, and long- established processes for those responses to be recorded.

Pursuant to the answer of 11 March 2026, to Question HL14990, on Lord Mandelson, whether the policy intention is the new legislation to remove peerages will include power to remove peerages of individuals who are not members of the House of Lords, including the Duke of York title.

Further details about the legislation to create a mechanism to remove peerages from disgraced peers will be announced soon.

Further to the Cabinet Office consultation paper on Digital ID, 10 March 2026, CP1498, page 57, if he will list examples of cultural communities with less engagement in mainstream society, other than religious communities and travellers.

The consultation identifies several groups that may face barriers to mainstream digital engagement and is seeking views on how to support these individuals.

Whether the legal mechanisms to join Erasmus will be subject to the Treaty ratification process under Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010.

As was the case with our association to Horizon under the previous Government, the legal mechanism to associate to the Erasmus+ programme will not be subject to the treaty ratification process set out in Part 2 of the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act 2010. Protocol I to the UK-EU Trade Agreement will be amended by a decision of the UK-EU Specialised Committee on Participation in Union Programmes. A decision to amend the Protocol does not require ratification. The power to amend Protocol I to add new programmes is already delegated to this committee. The decision will come into force on adoption by the Committee. Once the Specialised Committee decision is adopted, this will be made publicly available on gov.uk.

For what reason Simon Case and Alex Chisholm were given differing exit payments.

I refer to my answer to 108238, as set out in the Cabinet Office accounts (page 86), the payment for the former Cabinet Secretary, Simon Case, was a severance payment, with the value calculated using the Civil Service Compensation Scheme tariff. In answer to the second part of your question, I refer to my answer to 112182. The Business Appointment Rules for Crown Servants set out that Permanent Secretaries are required to observe a three month waiting period, and the Rules set out that it may be appropriate to pay former civil servants who are required to observe a waiting period before taking up an external role.

Pursuant to the answer of 10 March 2026 to Question 117004, whether those provisions applied to the recent Cabinet Secretary recruitment process.

I refer to my answer 115556, the Cabinet Manual sets out that the Cabinet Secretary is appointed directly by the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister receives advice from the First Civil Service Commissioner, but is the final decision maker. The announcement (here) explained that “this appointment was made following a full fair and open external competition, chaired by the First Civil Service Commissioner.” The announcement of the current Cabinet Secretary (here) explained that “the Prime Minister and the First Civil Service Commissioner agreed a process to appoint a new Cabinet Secretary. Once this process was complete, the First Civil Service Commissioner confirmed that Dame Antonia Romeo is an exceptional candidate of the highest calibre, having run two of the largest operational departments in Government, and confirmed her track record makes her the right candidate for the role.

If he will publish the creators’ template contract used by the Cabinet Office and its creative agency.

There are no plans to publish the contract template due to commercial sensitivities.