Written questions by Wood.

With reference to pages 8 and 107 of the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-2025, HC1372, 23 October 2025, whether the Department’s target to reduce headcount by up to 1,200 roles has been met in part through the reclassification or exclusion of Government Commercial or Fast Stream staff from Cabinet Office workforce totals.

The statement on page 107 of the Cabinet Office Annual Report and Accounts 2024-2025 only refers to the staff included in section 2.12. Diversity and inclusion and does not refer to data provided in earlier sections on departmental headcount. These individuals are included in the departmental headcount on Page 99 under the 4,370 Cabinet Office staff recharged to other government departments and therefore has no impact on the Department’s target to reduce headcount by up to 1,200 roles.

With reference to page 66 of the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-2025, HC1372, 23 October 2025, whether the Executive Committee affirmed and documented its understanding of the Department’s purpose and its own role and responsibilities in a board operating framework.

There is no requirement in the Corporate Governance Code for Executive Committees to have a Board Operating Framework and so the Executive Committee does not have a board operating framework.

If he will publish the guidance issued to departments referenced in the letter from the Paymaster General to the Institute for Government of 14 October 2025.

There are no plans to publish this guidance.

Pursuant to the answer of 29 August 2025, to Question 69015, on Government Department: Official Cars, whether the Cabinet Office has released information on expenditure on Ministerial cars through the Government Car Service under the Freedom of Information Act since 4 July 2024.

The Government Car Service (GCS) transferred to the Cabinet Office from the Department for Transport, as a result of a machinery of government change, on 1st April 2025. Freedom of Information (FOI) requests relating to GCS prior to that date were answered by the Department for Transport. Since 1st April 2025, information on expenditure has been released by the Cabinet Office in response to FOI requests, where appropriate, and in line with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act.

Pursuant to the answer of 3 November 2025, to Question 84247, on Public Appointments: Political Impartiality, if he will make it his policy to amend guidance to require disclosure of previous political activity to be declared within and at the time of the gov.uk announcement of the appointment.

The Governance Code on Public Appointments requires that relevant political activity, as defined within the Code, should be publicly disclosed for successful candidates. This is expected to happen at the time that a department or appointing body announces the successful candidate. Or in the case of those appointments subject to pre-appointment hearing by a House of Commons select committee, the preferred candidate.

What the names, roles and dates of appointment of the members of the Forfeiture Committee are; how each member was selected; and which members are classified as independent.

The Forfeiture Committee is chaired by a Permanent Secretary on delegation from the Cabinet Secretary. This is currently Dame Sarah Healey, MHCLG. She has been in post as Chair since July 2025. The other permanent member is the Treasury Solicitor, currently Sussana McGibbon. She has been a member of the Committee since March 2021. The Committee has four independent members, drawn from the Chairs of the ten independent honours committees. These Chair appointments are made through a Public Appointments process. The current independent members are Sir Hamid Patel, John Booth CVO, Stephen Kelly and Dame Jane Dacre. Each was appointed to the Forfeiture Committee in October 2022.

How much his Department has spent via Berry Bros Ltd since 4 July 2024.

All relevant spending is available in the Cabinet Office’s government procurement card transparency return for March 2025 which can be found on gov.uk

Whether Tom Kibasi was a (a) direct ministerial appointment, (b) special adviser, (c) secondment, (d) civil servant recruited by exception or (e) permanent civil servant, when working in 10 Downing Street.

Tom Kibasi was recruited via secondment.

With reference to page 8 of his Department's corporate report entitled Integrated Security Fund Annual Report 2024–25 published on 30 October 2025, what proportion of the £965 million was classified as having a (a) principal, (b) significant and (c) not targeted gender equality objective under OECD GESI markers.

The Cabinet Office remains committed to supporting delivery of the UK’s Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda, and the Integrated Security Fund (ISF) supports work to tackle Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI). The ISF funds a variety of ‘programmes’, each of which is designed to achieve a specific national security objective. Each programme can then be broken down into individual ‘projects’ which work towards the programme’s objective. There is a requirement whereby all programmes should include at least one project where gender is a primary objective (an ‘E’ rating under OECD GESI markers, which is the highest rating), and all projects must have met, or be working towards meeting, a minimum standard whereby gender equality is part of the project’s objectives, but not the principal reason for undertaking the project (a ‘C’ rating). However, the Cabinet Office does not specifically track expenditure allocated to GESI markers (principal, significant or not targeted). In addition, during Financial Year 2024/25 the ISF operated a dedicated Gender, Peace and Security Portfolio (£5.39m).

Whether the Admiralty House residences will be offered to another Minister.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 13 October 2025, Official Report, PQ 77624.

Pursuant to the Answer of 7 July 2025 to Question 63005 on Prime Minister: Aviation, and with reference to the Cabinet Office Freedom of Information Act disclosure of 5 September 2025, FOI reference: FOI2025/12575, if he will place the disclosure in the Library; and what (a) is the value of the yearly payment to EDF to carbon offset flights using the C-GBNI airframe and (b) notional volume of carbon emissions are offset.

I will arrange for a copy of FOI2025/12575 to be deposited in the Library of the House. The yearly payment to carbon offset flights using the G-GBNI aircraft is calculated at the end of each financial year based on the flights that have taken place to ensure accuracy.

Whether he has issued guidance to special advisers on the use of government email in 2025.

Special advisers are required to adhere to the Code of Conduct for Special Advisers at all times. No specific guidance has been issued centrally from the Cabinet Office to special advisers on the use of government email in 2025.

How members of the Diversity and Outreach Committee were selected and how many vacancies, other than the appointment of Chair, were publicly advertised.

Following the appointment of a new Chair to the Diversity and Outreach Honours Committee, a member from each of the ten independent honours committees was selected to join the Diversity and Outreach Committee in an ex-officio capacity based on their sector-specific expertise, experience, interest, and commitment. Selection was made through an Expression of Interest process, as was done for previous iterations of the committee. All members were appointed to their honours committee via a fair and open process on the Public Appointments website.

Pursuant to the answer of 4 November 2025 to Question 85499 on Cabinet Office: Facility Agreements, how facility time is authorised; and whether Ministers approve it.

Trade Union representatives have a statutory right to be granted reasonable paid time off to undertake trade union duties and reasonable unpaid time to undertake trade union activities. The facility time guidance sets out that Civil Servants who are Trade Union representatives will spend at least 50% of their time delivering their Civil Service role. Where time is required above this figure including acting in a 100% role, this will be by exception and will need to be agreed by the Secretary of State.

When the List of Ministerial Responsibilities will be updated.

A new List of Ministerial Responsibilities will be published in due course.

What proportion of Developed Vetting clearances have been completed within 95 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 Developed Vetting (DV) clearances.UKSV KPIs are set and regularly reviewed in consultation with customer groups, governed by ministerial oversight, to ensure demand is balanced with maintaining assurance in national security safeguards.In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

What proportion of UK Security Vetting staff are currently based in (a) York, (b) Glasgow and (c) other locations.

United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV) is part of the Government Security Group (GSG) hosted by the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office is committed to growth in both York and Glasgow; to help ensure HMG retains resilience, certain existing and specialist roles are based outside of these core locations.In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

What proportion of UK Security Vetting’s total workforce is made up of contingent labour or contractors.

The proportion of UK Security Vetting's total workforce made up of contingent labour or contractors is 5%. The use of this resource allows UKSV to maximise skills and meet dynamic resourcing requirements, set by the customer departments across His Majesty’s Government (HMG). This strategy enables UKSV to consistently meet its agreed Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and satisfy its obligations as service provider of National Security Vetting (NSV).In line with the practice followed by successive administrations, the Government does not otherwise comment on security matters.

Pursuant to the answer of 5 November 2025, to Question 86664, on Ministers: Official Cars, how much has been invoiced to each department in each month since July 2024; and how much has been paid through an internal transfer for the Cabinet Office in each month since July 2024.

The Government Car Service (GCS) transferred to the Cabinet Office from the Department of Transport, as a result of a machinery of government change, on 1st April 2025. Therefore all invoicing data prior to that date remains with the Department for Transport. Invoicing data post April 2025 is included below. A significant proportion of invoicing activity was paused during the transition period which resulted in two invoicing runs for April 2025 with costs normalising in subsequent months. Charges to the Cabinet Office include services provided to No10, the Leader of the Opposition, the Leaders of the House of Commons and House of Lords, and the Cabinet Secretary, in addition to core Cabinet Office ministers. The figures provided represent total charges to departments, inclusive of all associated costs such as Transport for London (TfL) congestion charge, as well as travel and subsistence claims submitted by drivers in the delivery of the service. APRIL'25APRIL'25MAY'25JUNE'25JULY'25AUG'25SEPT'25Cabinet Office£17,137.64£147,019.31£139,361.51£141,827.02£151,582.27£136,375.57£140,471.82DESNZ£335.24£20,423.45£19,957.72£19,994.24£19,973.80£19,817.6£19,936.66MHCLG£11,014.28£28,028.18£26,206.87£26,601.78£24,697.07£21,547.82£24,222.77DCMS£460.27£11,817.33£11,278.62£10,767.89£12,396.33£10,369.77£11,201.70DEFRA£1,897.57£22,009.46£20,611.41£21,209.77£22,049.17£20,135.75£21,124.97DFE£1,508.99£10,139.11£9,803.15£10,111.25£10,604.71£10,179.54£10,349.44DFT£1,233.32£20,266.75£20,389.25£20,491.14£21,162.53£20,066.73£20,509.47DHSC£1,831.9£30,597.56£30,469.06£31,465.41£32,053.88£29,629.62£31,758.00HMT£455.42£10,364.09£10,373.00£10,125.42£10,212.20£10,184.02£10,379.37Home Office£2,186.06£29,943.21£30,064.45£30,331.18£30,799.75£29,478.79£30,137.43Business & Trade£2,730.98£31,360.47£30,597.59£31,538.60£31,334.28£29,492.09£31,319.65AGO£1,682.59£10,941.86£10,701.09£11,221.40£11,860.04£9,940.09£10,422.28HoC£146.28£1,799.98£2,225.43£2,781.79£1,986.99£ -£1,545.44DWP£698.19£10,386.77£9,925.09£9,992.94£10,111.26£9,940.09£10,142.51NCA£ -£9,730.49£9,649.47£9,664.47£9,756.77£9,649.47£9,679.47MOJ£9,310.03£38,424.85£34,963.20£35,597.71£39,936.80£3,2694.29£32,980.11Scotland Office£648.12£9,689.83£9,608.12£10,254.40£10,369.88£9,406.25£10,163.82DSIT£1,195.05£21,067.14£21,634.16£22,223.55£22,081.34£20,115.41£21,210.24DWP£1,055.09£9,752.29£9,975.41£10,440.70£10,505.24£9,574.47£10,093.31

How many staff his Department intends to hire for the new Digital ID policy directorate; and what the total annual budget for that division is.

The digital ID policy team is in the process of being established. The staffing and budget will be considered as part of the Cabinet Office Business Plan in the normal way.