Written questions by Wood.

Whether he approved a communications spending control exception for the spending on the Government-branded beer mats.

I refer the Honorable Member to the answer to PQ 52686.

Pursuant to the Answer of 16 May 2025 to Question 50575 on Cabinet Office: Women, if he will publish that intranet update.

There are no plans to publicly publish intranet updates as they are targeted at the internal civil service audience.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 50568 on Government Departments: Artificial Intelligence, for what functions his Department uses Redbox; and in which offices it is used.

The Cabinet Office is promoting the adoption of artificial intelligence among staff through the implementation of AI ‘assistant tools’. One such tool is Redbox. It allows staff to harness AI throughout their work in an assured, safe, and secure manner. Redbox is accessible to all business units within the Cabinet Office.

Whether business units in his Department are required to produce business cases to undertake expenditure on refurbishment.

All Government Departments have an obligation to apply Treasury Guidance (notably the Green Book) in how they fund and seek approval for expenditure on refurbishment works. How this is applied depends on the scale and cost of the individual project. By way of example, the full refurbishment of a large building is likely to require the Department to develop Outline Business Cases and Final Business Cases at the right project gateway to secure the funding available to that Department from its SR settlement. At the other end of the spectrum, a Department can spend against its SR settlement for Life Cycle Replacement (LCR) or maintenance works where the gateway process will be reflective of the reduced investment.

With reference to his Department's press release entitled Thousands of Civil Service roles moved out of London in latest reform to the state, published on 14 May 2025, whether civil servants relocated outside of London will have their pay reduced; and whether civil servants employed in new locations will receive lower salaries than London equivalents.

Decisions on pay, including London weightings, are delegated to individual departments.

Which central Government non-residential properties are unoccupied.

I refer the honourable gentleman to the response given for PQ 53204.

Pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 51165 on Government Departments: Flags, who provided the Pride flag; and whether that flag was a Progress flag.

The flag was sourced via the Government Property Agency contract and manufactured by the Hampshire Flag Company (HFC). The flag is a 6 stripe rainbow flag.

Pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 50576 on Cabinet Office: Recruitment, which SCS roles were not advertised externally; and for what reason those roles were not advertised externally.

As was the case under the previous administration,the Civil Service advertises all SCS vacancies on the principle of External by Default. External by Default means that vacancies will be open to external candidates outside the Civil Service, as well as existing civil servants, unless an exception applies. Between 30 May 2024 and 30 April 2025, 7 SCS roles were not advertised externally. In each case the appropriate approval was obtained. It would not be appropriate to provide specific details of the roles as individuals could be identified.

What the average cost was of domestic flights taken by the Prime Minister since July 2024.

It has been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of Ministers and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website.

Pursuant to the Answer of 15 May 2025 to Question 46749 on Cabinet Office: Zero Hours Contracts, which business units the 423 staff work for.

The Cabinet Office uses zero hours contracts to selectively manage temporary demand. The Cabinet Office Pillars that the 423 contingent labour workers who can be classed as having zero hours contracts are as follows: National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) – formerly known as the Infrastructure and Projects Authority – 255. Following a recent Machinery of Government change, NISTA is now part of HM Treasury, and these workers will be transferred over to HM Treasury over the summer of 2025. Workers are engaged in this area to assist with external Gateway Reviews, where expert advice is required to review programmes and projects. These external gateway reviewers are only engaged under these contracts when there is no availability within the pool of civil servant gateway reviewers. Productive and Agile State – 155. Workers are engaged in this area to bring in commercial expertise to help run the GCF Assessment Development Centres, to assess Civil Servants’ commercial abilities for both contract management and wider commercial skills. Propriety and Constitution – 13. Workers engaged under this Pillar are for the Covid-19 Inquiry, which engages expert witnesses whose services are only required on an ad hoc basis. Contingent labour contracts should only be used in government where better value alternatives are not available. The Government is continuing to take steps to reduce the use of contingent labour.

Whether he has received representations from PCS on guidance on using female (a) toilets and (b) changing rooms in Government buildings.

The Cabinet Office holds frequent discussions with Civil Service trade unions on a number of topics.

What his policy is on (a) permanent civil servants and (b) special advisers who choose to resign and work for a public affairs company or in-house lobbyists; and whether his Department has a policy on moving such staff onto gardening leave during the period of notice.

The rules for civil servants and special advisers on the acceptance of outside appointments after departing from the Crown service are set out in the Business Appointment Rules.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 51150 on Freedom of Information and Written Questions: Costs, what the notional hourly cost of civil service time when assessing a written parliamentary question further to the £850 threshold under paragraph 218 of the Guide to Parliamentary Work is.

I refer the Member to my previous answer to PQ 51150. The cost limit is calculated at a flat rate of £25 per hour. The Guide to Parliamentary Work also makes reference to the Procedure Committee's advice that the threshold “be calculated only with regard to policy team time—it should not account for any central processing in parliamentary branches or WPQ teams, or the time taken by Ministers or their advisers” (paragraph 219).

Whether his Department has provided guidance to civil servants who are not members of the Government Communication Service on (a) speaking to the media and (b) publicly speaking at events where media may be present.

The Civil Service Code sets out that civil servants must have ministerial authorisation for any contact with the media. The Civil Service Management Code provides further guidance for civil servants on their obligations.

How many (a) junior and (b) senior civil servants are working in the European Union Relations Secretariat.

Details of the number of senior and junior civil servants working in the European Union Relations Secretariat can be found in the quarterly organogram published on data.gov.uk.

Whether procurement guidance has been issued by (a) his Department and (b) the Crown Commercial Service to public bodies on equality, diversity and inclusion requirements for private sector companies which wish to bid for public sector contracts.

The National Procurement Policy Statement (NPPS) sets the Government's strategic priorities for public procurement in support of the Government’s missions. This includes delivering social and economic value. Procurement Policy Note 002 sets out how to take account of social value in the award of central government contracts, using procurement where relevant and proportionate to break down barriers to opportunity and increase productivity through opportunities for skills and jobs for growth.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 52335 on Civil Service: Equality, whether the Civil Service Inclusive Practice Team are responsible for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in the Civil Service; and if he will list their functions and responsibilities.

Organisational decisions about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion sit in individual departments. The Civil Service Inclusive Practice (CSIP) Team is part of the Government People Group in the Cabinet Office. The CSIP team sets the strategic direction for EDI for the Civil Service as a whole and is responsible for the development and delivery of the Civil Service EDI Strategy.

Pursuant to the Answer of 19 May 2025 to Question 51161 on Cabinet Office: Expenditure, what public service campaigns the Unlimited Group has supported since 4 July 2024.

The Unlimited Group has primarily supported the GREAT campaign within the Cabinet Office. The GREAT campaign continues to promote the UK internationally as a destination for tourism, education, and business.

What the average salary is of civil servants at each grade in his Department.

Details of the salaries of civil servants at each grade can be found in the quarterly organogram published at https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/ff76be1f-4f37-4bef-beb7-32b259413be1/organogram-cabinet-office.

When he plans to update the transparency data entitled Cabinet Office senior officials high earners salaries.

The previous administration did not update this list prior to the General Election. The Cabinet Office will publish a new 2025 list in due course.