Written questions by Wood.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 June 2025 to Question 62086 on King Charles III: Artworks, whether (a) the BBC and (b) Channel 4 took up the offer from the Cabinet Office of a free portrait of the King to place in their offices.

As eligible public institutions, both the BBC and Channel 4 placed orders for Official Portraits of His Majesty The King while the Government scheme was operational, for the purposes of display in their buildings.

Pursuant to the answers of 3 June 2025 to Question 53890 on Civil Servants: Media and Public Speaking, and 18 June 2025 to Question 59753 on Civil Servants: Media and Public Speaking, if he will publish the guidance issued to civil servants.

The Civil Service Management Code makes clear that civil servants “must clear in advance material for publication, broadcasts or other public discussion which draws on official information or experience.” As it has done for several years, the Government continues to approve public activity by civil servants on a case-by-case basis. Informal, internal guidance is available to support this decision-making process. There are no plans to publish this.

Whether TotalEnergies Gas & Power and its subsidiaries supply gas to 10 Downing Street; and what assessment he has made of whether TotalEnergies' LNG gas is sourced from Russia.

The UK has ended all imports of Russian fossil fuels in response to Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. This contract started under the previous government.

Pursuant to the Answer of 23 June 2025 to Question 60822 on Public Buildings: Concrete, whether the Government Property Agency holds this information; and how many buildings in his Department have RAAC.

As at February 2024, there were three Government Property Agency (GPA) buildings with confirmed presence of RAAC. None have been identified post 1st January 2025. The GPA does not hold information on buildings across the wider public estate.

Whether civil servants receiving London weighting have to work in an office within Greater London.

Decisions on pay, including London weighting, are delegated to individual departments for grades below the Senior Civil Service (SCS). The SCS pay framework is managed centrally and only operates a national pay range.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 May 2025 to Question 41643 on Government Departments: Equality, whether his Department has provided updated internal guidance on diversity networks since 14 May 2024.

We have not provided internal guidance on diversity networks since 14 May 2024. The Civil Service Code, which is published and available here, sets out the standards of behaviour expected of all civil servants.

Whether special advisers in his Department have a role in the (a) preparation, (b) clearance and (c) publication of Official Statistics.

The Code of Conduct for Special Advisers sets out Special Advisers’ role and responsibilities.

With reference to his Department's publication entitled Civil Service EDI Expenditure Review Data, published on 29 May 2025, if he will publish a list of the external (a) organisations and (b) firms that provided (i) benchmarking and (ii) memberships in 2023-24.

As per the data published in the Civil Service EDI Expenditure Review Data on 29 May 2025, the expenditure in this category was £800,000 for all responding organisations during the twelve months prior to their return in July 2023. Naming organisations may breach commercial agreements between departments and providers.

What guidance he has given to civil servants on speaking at press conferences.

As per the detailed Government Communication Service (GCS) Propriety & Ethics Guidance, when civil servants are acting as departmental spokespeople they must establish impartiality and neutrality with the news media, and ensure that they deal with all news media even-handedly. GCS also provides training and support to media officers.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question HL7182 on Cabinet Office: Zero Hour Contracts, what is the annual cost of staff on zero-hours contract; and in what business units do they work.

The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department.The Cabinet Office uses zero hours contracts to selectively manage temporary demand. To end exploitative zero hours contracts, under the government’s plans to Make Work Pay legislation will be brought in to give workers on zero hours contracts and workers with a ‘low’ number of guaranteed hours, who regularly work more than these hours, the ability to move to guaranteed hours contracts which reflect the hours they regularly work over a 12-week reference period.

If he will make it his policy to reduce the size of the Government Communication Service.

I refer the hon. member to the answer given to PQ25449, given on the 29 January 2025.

With reference to the Treasury's policy paper entitled Departmental Efficiency Delivery Plans, published on 11 June 2025, whether he has a headcount target for the size of his Department between 2026-27 and 2028-29.

In line with the 2025 Spending Review, we are restructuring the Cabinet Office into a more strategic, specialised, and smaller department to achieve £110 million in annual expenditure savings by the 2028/29 financial year. Our focus is on identifying budgetary savings rather than meeting a specific headcount target.

With reference to the Commissioner for Public Appointment’s letter to the hon. Member for Brentwood and Ongar, whether the powers of the Public Appointments Commission to require appointing authorities provide information extends to information held by the No10 Political Office.

The scope of the powers of the Commissioner for Public Appointments to request information relevant to his inquiries are set out in Article 4(6) of the Public Appointments (No. 2) Order in Council 2023.

How many data breaches his Department has reported to the Information Commissioner's Office under the UK GDPR since 4 July 2024; and what type of information did these breaches relate to.

The Cabinet Office has reported eight data breaches to the Information Commissioner since 4 July 2024. The breaches and the data they related to is set out as follows:Date of breachType of information released12 July 2024Data relating to the Equality Hub copied to a private email account26 July 2024Data errors led to a civil service pension being paid to the wrong individual20 July 2024Data errors led to a civil service pension being paid to the wrong individual10 September 2024Employee email shared with incorrect recipients10 March 2025Vetting data was shared with the incorrect recipient19 March 2025An attachment of earnings order was sent to an incorrect recipient17 April 2025Ex-staff member retained departmental data on personal email account19 May 2025Data published in error as part of Cabinet Office transparency report

With reference to Spending Review 2025: Departmental Efficiency Plans, published on 11 June 2025, whether there is an overall headcount target for the size of the Civil Service from 2026-27 to 2028-29.

We have set out plans to reduce back office costs by 16% over the next five years, delivering savings of over £2.2 billion a year by 2030 and targeting spending on front line services. Each department will take a decision on its individual size and shape as per the financial settlements that have now been agreed with HMT in the Spending Review.These plans will take a whole workforce approach based on the cost of civil servants, Contingent Labour, Consultancy and Managed Services.

Whether the (a) transgender, (b) bisexual and (c) Windrush flag has been flown from a Government building since 4 July 2024.

None of the listed flags have been flown from a Government Property Agency managed Government Building since 4 July 2024. We do not hold information relating to buildings not managed by the Government Property Agency.

How much (a) his Department and (b) the Office for Equality and Opportunity has spent on lanyards since 4 July 2024; and what designs of lanyards have been purchased.

The Cabinet Office has purchased a total of 6,376 lanyards for £5,069.99 since 4 July 2024. This includes those bought for the aforementioned business units and Crown Commercial Service as an executive agency.On 6 April, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster announced the ban on unnecessary branded merchandise. Whilst it was agreed that some expenditure on merchandise items is necessary for operational purposes (security lanyards), all of these orders were made prior to the ban on unnecessary branded merchandise.In comparison, the Cabinet Office purchased a total of over 18,000 lanyards for £17,322.76 in the 12 months to July 2024.Staff will continue to be able to wear existing lanyards.

Whether the Director of Policy, Delivery and Innovation is a (a) special adviser, (b) direct ministerial appointment or (c) member of the Number 10 Political Office.

The Director of Policy, Delivery and Innovation is a special adviser. A list of special advisers is published as part of the Annual Report on Special Advisers by the Cabinet Office on gov.uk. The next report will be published in due course.

What guidance (a) his Department and (b) the UK Resilience Academy have issued on the consideration of equality, diversity, inclusion and equity in relation to (i) civil contingencies, (ii) emergency planning and (iii) disaster relief.

The Government will soon publish the new Resilience Strategy which will set out our approach to building national resilience for all with particular focus on supporting our most vulnerable individuals and communities. In April, the Cabinet Office published updated Vulnerable People Guidance to strengthen the capability of emergency responders in developing local action plans identifying and supporting vulnerable individuals and groups in an emergency. Additionally, the Cabinet Office has developed a Risk Vulnerability Tool which incorporates data such as ethnicity, age, gender, disability to improve understanding of the scale and location of disproportionately impacted populations to enable targeted support before and during crises.The recently launched UK Resilience Academy will provide learning and leadership to government, local authorities, organisations, communities, and individuals. We will also use the National Exercising Programme to test how well our planning supports vulnerable people and communities in an emergency.We will also continue to ensure that our current, and future, resilience guidance, including the Prepare website on GOV.UK reflects the diverse needs of individuals, households and communities.

How many responses from his Department to Freedom of Information Act requests have detailed Government Procurement Card spending below £500 in the last two years.

To establish the number of FOI responses in the last two years which have detailed Government Procurement Card spending below £500 would require a review of all responses issued by the Cabinet Office during that period and can only be provided at disproportionate cost. In support of the Government’s Transparency agenda, the Cabinet Office publishes Government Procurement Card spend data over £500 on GOV.UK at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-procurement-card-data--2