Written questions by Wood.

Pursuant to the answer of 3 September 2025, to Question 70509, on Government Departments: Buildings, what is the current ownership and freehold, leasehold or rental status, of the Department for Education building on Great Smith Street, London.

The property occupied by the Department for Education on Great Smith Street, London is known as Sanctuary Buildings. GPA, on behalf of the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, holds the leasehold interest in the property and pays the rent. The freehold interest is held by Legal and General Assurance (Pensions Management) Limited. Information on property registered in England and Wales is available to the public by following the following link to HM Land Registry - Search for land and property information https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Pursuant to the answer of 24 October 2025 to Question 82675 on Civil Service: Redundancy, which public body collated and provided that data to the National Audit Office.

The Cabinet Office provided this information to the National Audit Office. This information was already held under the Redundancy and Compensation Control process.

Whether the Office for National Statistics has made an assessment of the adequacy of GDP deflation forecasts.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of the 1st of December is attached.

What assessment they have made of the impact of vetting delays on (a) recruitment and (b) project delivery across government departments and national security agencies.

Since April 2024, United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) has consistently met its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPI), across each product type. With the appropriate Ministerial oversight, UKSV works closely with the departments and decision-making authorities they serve to understand their forecasted demand for the provision of vetting services.

Pursuant to his Department's press release entitled Civil Service staff networks to only meet outside working hours and have all events signed off by senior managers, published on 23 September 2025 if he will place in the Library a copy of the new guidance on diversity networks.

The Staff Network Policy is an internal Civil Service staff policy. It is not in the public domain and as such a copy will not be placed in the Library.

Pursuant to the answer of 23 September 2025 to Question 75722 on Government Departments: Advertising, if he will publish equivalent data for spending on (a) hard copy advertising, (b) public relations and (c) marketing.

The requested information is not held centrally or in the specific categories outlined in the question. Please refer to departmental transparency data.

If he will ensure that direct ministerial appointments publish a declaration of interests on gov.uk.

It is the responsibility of individual sponsor departments to publish details of the direct ministerial appointments that they make, including their terms of reference. Information about managing conflicts of interest and the public announcements that should be made for Direct Ministerial Appointments is set out in the Guidance on Making Direct Ministerial Appointments.

How many people are employed by UK Security Vetting by (a) permanent civil servants, (b) fixed-term appointees and (c) contingent labour.

United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) delivers National Security Vetting services to departments and agencies across government, police and industry. UKSV’s workforce planning is driven by the demand forecasting and operational employment requirements of these departments and agencies. The resourcing of UKSV includes a diverse range of staffing contracts to meet forecast demand.

Whether he has issued guidance on civil servants claiming trade union facility time and diversity network time.

The Cabinet Office Facility Time Framework, issued to Civil Service departments, provides guidance on the granting of time off for trade union facility time for civil servants who are trade union representatives. Civil Service staff network activity is separate to trade union activities and duties carried out by trade union representatives in the Civil Service. The Staff Network Policy covers the allocation of time for specific staff network roles and duties.

With reference to the answer of 28 October 2025 to Question HL10808 on Official Residences, how long the other residences have been unoccupied.

There are two additional flats in Admiralty House which can be allocated to ministers as official residences at the Prime Minister’s discretion. Neither flat has been allocated to a minister under the current administration.

Pursuant to the answer of 10 October 2025 to Question 73728 on Cabinet Office: OCS Group, whether the Social Value Outcome and Diversity reports produced by OCS are retained by his Department.

The Government Property Agency (GPA) collates information in line with the contract via a third party supplier, who report this into the Social Value Portal. The GPA does not therefore directly hold the information.

Whether the UK Security Vetting is currently meeting its key performance indicators for vetting timeliness.

United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) continues to meet its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for all product types. The UKSV KPIs are established and regularly reviewed in consultation with departments to ensure that operational demand is balanced while retaining assurance in national security safeguards. Furthermore, UKSV's KPIs are subject to ministerial oversight. In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

With reference to the Departmental Strategic Asset Management Plan Executive Summaries 2025 - 2026, published on 30 October 2025, when the summaries for all departments will be published.

The intention is to publish all summaries of departmental Strategic Asset Management Plans (SAMPs) on the UK government website. For practical purposes, this is being done in phases with a second batch going live in December.

What proportion of Counter Terrorist Checks (CTC) and Security Checks (SC) have been completed within 25 days in each of the past six months.

United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) continues to meet its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) across each product type, including Counter Terrorist Checks (CTC) and Security Checks (SC).These UKSV KPIs are established and reviewed on a regular basis with departments, and are subject to ministerial oversight, to balance operational demand whilst maintaining assurance in national security safeguards. In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

With reference to the notice entitled Provision of Support and Maintenance for the Central Digital Platform, for what reason the variation was designated as negotiated procedure without a prior call for competition – extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority.

The original contract for the Provision of Support and Maintenance for the Central Digital Platform was awarded following a competitive tender process conducted under the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) 6 Framework. The Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency (VEAT) notice was published to give notice of our intention to vary the contract. There was a clerical error when publishing the VEAT which inadvertently led to the notice advising that the change was in response to extreme urgency. This was not the case and the decision was made purely on the grounds of value for money. No subcontractor resources which are deployed under the contract are located in or have supply-chain links to jurisdictions designated by the National Cyber Security Centre as high-risk for data-security purposes.

Whether any offshore subcontractor resources associated with his Department’s Central Digital Platform contract (a) are located in and (b) have supply-chain links to jurisdictions designated by the National Cyber Security Centre as high-risk for data-security purposes, including China.

The original contract for the Provision of Support and Maintenance for the Central Digital Platform was awarded following a competitive tender process conducted under the Digital Outcomes and Specialists (DOS) 6 Framework. The Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency (VEAT) notice was published to give notice of our intention to vary the contract. There was a clerical error when publishing the VEAT which inadvertently led to the notice advising that the change was in response to extreme urgency. This was not the case and the decision was made purely on the grounds of value for money. No subcontractor resources which are deployed under the contract are located in or have supply-chain links to jurisdictions designated by the National Cyber Security Centre as high-risk for data-security purposes.

Pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2025, to Question 82339, on Ministers: Official Cars, what was the total expenditure on Ministerial cars across government in July 2025.

I refer the Honourable Gentleman to the response given to Question 90730, tabled on 13th November 2025. The total expenditure on ministerial cars across government in July 2025 was £483,474.31.

Pursuant to the answer of 21 October 2025, to Question 76829, on Arms Length Bodies: Equality, whether any assessment has been made of the level of compliance by Arms Length Bodies with the May 2024 EDI spending control guidance.

As part of the requirements of the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Expenditure Guidance, external EDI expenditure must be reported to the Cabinet Office by departments and Arms Length Bodies who employ civil servants. There is no additional assessment on compliance by ALB’s and reported expenditure is published annually.

Pursuant to the answer of 15 September 2025 to Question 74665 on Civil Service: Workplace Pensions, whether civil servants who are members of Classic, Classic Plus and Premium are able to (a) claim those pensions at 60 and (b) accrue pensionable contributions from Alpha whilst they remain in Crown service; and whether Nuvos members can do the same at 65.

Members of Classic, Classic Plus, Premium and Nuvos can claim their pensions on partial retirement (subject to them reducing their pensionable earnings by 20% by working less hours or at a lower grade) and continue in service accruing Alpha benefits (on that new lower salary). The pension they claim will be reduced (abated) if, when added to their new salary, the total exceeds their pay before partial retirement.

Pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2025, to Question 84247, on Public Appointments: Political Impartiality, what communications has the Cabinet Office had with the Commissioner for Public Appointments in relation to previous political activity, which is outside the scope of the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies but in scope of the Governance Code for Public Appointments, not being publicly declared.

The Governance Code on Public Appointments covers the processes departments should follow for recruiting public appointees, whereas the Code of Conduct for Board Members of Public Bodies covers the behaviour of such appointees once they are in post. The codes set out processes for the publication of political activity for successful candidates and existing public appointees respectively. Candidates for public appointment roles are asked to declare potential conflicts of interest in their applications - and are advised to err on the side of declaring if in doubt - so that the Advisory Assessment Panel can take a view on whether any actual or perceived conflicts can be appropriately managed. These wider declarations cover a full range of interests, including financial interests, and are for assessment as part of the recruitment process, not for publication. As mentioned above, the Governance Code sets out the political activity that needs to be published.