Written questions by Wood.

Pursuant to the written statement of 3 February 2025, HCWS408, on transparency data, if he will ensure that the gov.uk transparency data is published in accessible open data formats, including via public APIs.

Transparency data is published according to the standard and best practice guidance from the Government Digital Service and Central Digital and Data Office. Accessible open data formats are already used.

How many Departments hire official photographers as staff members.

Information on how many departments hire official photographers as staff members is not held centrally by the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office Communications team employs two Digital Media Officers who support government work in Departments and undertake photography as a small part of their duties. There are also 2 full time, dedicated photographers in the No10 team. Although they are funded by the Cabinet Office, their work is managed by No10.

If he will list the monetary levels of the each of the special adviser pay bands.

Special adviser pay bands are published in the Annual Report on Special Advisers.The most recent publication which includes the payband for the previous administration is availbale at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/674844e62ac8a6da3072393a/Annual_Report_on_Special_Advisers_2024.docx.pdf The current special adviser paybands will be published as part of the 2025 annual report in the summer.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 25674 on Prime Minister: Senior Civil Servants, if he will publish the Principal Private Secretary candidate pack.

Between 13 November and 1 December 2024 the candidate pack for the Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister was published and available to download via the Civil Service Jobs website.

Whether his Department holds Civil Service People Survey 2024 data for 10 Downing Street staff.

Yes.

What steps (a) his Department, (b) the Office for Equality and Opportunity and (c) diversity networks linked to his Department are taking to support (i) asexual and (ii) aromantic civil servants.

There are no policies that exist in respect of asexual and/or aromantic staff specifically.

What guidance his Department has issued to other departments on spending controls overseen by Ministers.

The Cabinet Office has published guidance on spend controls here and will share updated guidance and information with departments if we make any changes to these controls. The most recent guidance issued to departments on spending controls was in relation to this government’s pledge to cut unnecessary spending on consultancy to save £1.2 billion by 2026. Guidance was shared directly with departments by the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office and is summarised here. This government is committed to making sure spend controls do not add excessive bureaucracy, enable delivery and provide value for taxpayers’ money. For example, in January 2025 the use of the Get Approval to Spend digital service (hosted on GOV.UK) was mandated for digital spend, resulting in a single front door and case management system for the digital spend control.

Pursuant to the Answer of 24 December 2024 to Question 19479 on Civil Servants: Disciplinary Proceedings, how many civil servants working in his Department have been suspended due to allegations of misconduct since in each year since 2020.

Suspensions are used to safeguard the organisation and are not an assumption of guilt. Suspension can be used for a range of reasons; including during security investigations, fraud investigations or misconduct. The table below shows the number of suspensions since 2020: YearNumber of suspensions202042021420222202372024720253

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40911 on Government Departments: Social Media, if he will update the guidance to require Ministers to declare (a) hospitality and (b) other meetings with senior media executives from (i) X, (ii) Meta and (iii) Tiktok.

I refer the Hon Member to my previous answers [41868 and 40911]. Details of ministers’ official meetings with all external individuals and organisations are published on a quarterly basis.The Cabinet Office also publishes a monthly register of all gifts and hospitality received by ministers in a ministerial capacity. There are no current plans to include representatives of social media companies under the guidance for senior media figures.

Whether there is a framework agreement in place for the Infected Blood Compensation Authority.

The Cabinet Office published the Infected Blood Compensation Authority Framework Document on 10 March 2025. The document is publicly available on gov.uk, and can be found here:https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67cecb66df94702964916071/IBCA_Framework_Document.pdf.

Whether his Department has issued guidance on (a) the (i) determination and (ii) authorisation of ex officio membership of pay review bodies, (b) whether people can sit on multiple pay review bodies and (c) other relevant matters on ex officio membership of pay review bodies.

The Cabinet Office does not hold any guidance in relation to those appointed to a pay review body as an ex-officio member. The Senior Salaries Review Body (SSRB) is the only pay review body with ex-officio members. All members of pay review bodies are public appointments, who adhere to the governance code sent out by the Commissioner for Public Appointments.

If he will publish the (a) framework agreements and (b) memorandums of understanding between his Department and (i) the UK Statistics Authority and (ii) Office for National Statistics on (A) how Parliamentary Questions about those organisations should be answered and (B) other matters.

The 2020 MoU between Cabinet Office and the UK Statistics Authority (UKSA) is published on gov.uk (here). The Office for National Statistics is part of UKSA and does not have its own MoU. There is no separate Framework Agreement. A revised MoU is due to be published in 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 39120 on 10 Downing Street: Repairs and Maintenance, what the budget is for the works; whether the works (a) required planning permission and (b) are structural; and what the nature of the repair works is other than to the external window frames.

A repair project is underway to preserve the integrity of this Grade 1 listed building. Maintenance of the roof will be carried out alongside repair of exterior window frames. This followed a survey in December 2023 which indicated that work must be completed for safety reasons, with the work commencing in January 2024. The repairs are not structural and did not require planning permission. The cost of these works will be published in due course in Cabinet Office transparency returns.

How many staff were signed off absent due to stress in his Department in the most recent week for which data is available.

Information about sickness absence in the Cabinet Office is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-service-sickness-absence-2024/civil-service-sickness-absence-2024-report#by-organisation

Whether his Department has issued guidance to other Departments on reducing spending on leadership training.

The Cabinet Office has not issued any guidance to departments about reducing spending on leadership training. Good leadership and management skills will be needed to deliver the Plan for Change and realise the government’s ambition to reshape the state. A cross-Civil Service leadership and management curriculum is being developed to support the standards expected for leadership and management. We are working to ensure this is delivered in the most impactful and cost effective way.

Pursuant to the answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40911 on Government Departments: Social Media, if he will make it his policy to update the guidance for (a) special advisers and (b) senior officials to define senior media executives as those from (i) X, (ii) Meta and (iii) Tiktok.

I refer the honourable member to the answer provided on 31 March in response to Question 40911.

What the headcount of the civil service was in (a) June 2024 and (b) the latest period for which data is available.

Headline civil service employment statistics on both an headcount and full-time equivalent basis (FTE) are published quarterly by Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of their Public Sector Employment Statistics release and are available at the following web address: https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/publicsectorpersonnel/bulletins/publicsectoremployment/previousreleases These statistics show that as at June 2024 civil service headcount stood at 546,000. The latest figures available are as at December 2024 where headcount was 548,000.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 March 2025 to Question 40573 on Alex Chisholm, for what reasons the final advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments, dated 30 October 2024, was not published before 12 March 2025.

The Advisory Committee on Business Appointments is operationally independent of government and is responsible for publishing its advice on applications once the appointment or employment has been taken up or announced by the applicant. In this case, the Committee has publicly stated that the timing of the publication of the advice on GOV.UK was impacted by staffing issues within the Secretariat.

How much his Department has spent on recruitment consultants for public appointments regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments since 4 July 2024; and on which firms.

Since 4 July 2024, the Cabinet Office has spent £17,600 on recruitment consultants for public appointments regulated by the Commissioner for Public Appointments. This was paid to Hays Recruitment Agency to retain their services for the recruitment of a Judicial Member to the Senior Salaries Review Body. The appointment of Hays Recruitment Agency was agreed by a Minister of the previous administration in March 2024, in accordance with the Governance Code on Public Appointments. The contract concluded in October 2024, following the appointment of a new Judicial Member.

Pursuant to the Answer of 1 April 2025 to Question 40914 on Prime Minister: Email, what his Department's policy is on how long emails that are (a) received by 10 Downing Street, (b) not explicitly placed on the official record keeping system and (c) stored on the Downing Street exchange server should be retained.

As under successive administrations, routine emails are held for no longer than 90 days on the email system at which point they are automatically removed from staff mailboxes. This is in line with the Code of Practice on the management of records.