Written questions by Wood.

What the value is of the severance payment to the outgoing director of communications.

It is a longstanding policy not to comment on individuals. The Model Contract for Special Advisers is published online and details the circumstances in which severance is payable.

With reference to the Written Statement of 5 December 2024 on Plan for Change: Milestones for mission-led government, HCWS285, if he will make it his policy to establish a unit to monitor the Government's progress in meeting the targets set out in the Plan for Change document.

A specialist Mission Delivery Unit has already been set up in the Cabinet Office to support delivery of the Missions. It advises the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster on the delivery of the government’s five missions and the milestones set out in the Plan for Change.

What information his Department holds on whether any arm’s length bodies are members of Stonewall.

Information on how issued funding is spent by arms length bodies, including any membership of third party organisations, is not gathered centrally.

If he will place in the Library a copy of the Honours Committees handbook.

The Honours Committees handbook is a document used on their appointment to induct independent committee members and chairs to the honours system and the committee process.More information on these can be found on gov.uk.

Whether his Department has issued guidance on political activity by deputy lieutenants.

The Cabinet Office does not issue guidance on the performance of their duties to deputy lieutenants. However the Association of Lord-Lieutenants provides guidance to Lord-Lieutenants on political activity for all Lieutenancy officers.

Pursuant to the Answer of 21 January 2025 to Question 23677 on Gender Dysphoria: Health Services, if he will make it his policy to place a copy of the revised guidance in the Library.

As was the case with the previous Gender Reassignment guidance under the last administration, which was not published, there are no current plans for the revised Gender Reassignment guidance to be published once it has been finalised. This is consistent with the approach taken for other internal HR policies.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 25850 on Government Departments: Advertising, if he will list (a) each of the seven instances of campaign-specific flexibility and (b) the date on which each was approved.

There are no plans to publish the list of instances of campaign-specific flexibility. All requests for campaign-specific flexibility are considered on a campaign by campaign basis. Platforms and publishers are assessed on their unique offer to reach our audiences and the context of the campaign, weighing against the risks, to offer a way for us to increase campaign efficiencies

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14704 on Remuneration Committee, what the (a) terms of reference and (b) remit are of that Committee.

The Government Commercial Organisation (GCO) Remuneration Committee's remit focuses on overseeing all aspects of remuneration for GCO staff, including setting strategic direction for remuneration and reward, and ensuring pension administration is managed correctly. A summary of the terms of reference is below: GCO Remuneration Committee - Summary Terms of Reference (TOR) 1. MembershipThe Committee will comprise five members: - two Non-Executive Directors (NEDs), of whom one will be the Committee Chair; - the Government Chief Commercial Officer (GCCO); and - two independent members comprising a senior Cabinet Office (CO) HR representative and a HM Treasury representative. 2. AuthorityThe Committee is authorised to approve the remuneration of the GCO’s employees. 3. RemitThe Committee will act on a collective basis, and has collective responsibility for overseeing the total reward of GCO employees covering all aspects of terms and conditions within the GCO. 4. Duties4.1 In support of delivering against the remit of the Committee, the following duties will apply: - The Committee will seek to ensure that the GCO reward structure continues to be competitive, in order to attract, retain and motivate employees within the constraints and parameters set by HM Treasury and the Civil Service Board. In addition, the Committee will:- Have access to the appropriate personal reward and performance information and have the sufficient resources in order to carry out its duties, including access to relevant experts and advice as required.- Be provided with appropriate and timely training, both in the form of an induction for new members and in light of any GCO or wider Civil Service changes on an ongoing basis as and when required 5. Role of members in supporting the Committee’s workEffective corporate governance requires that Committee members abide by certain principles when making their own contributions to the Committee’s work, including:a. working cooperatively with fellow Committee members in the GCO’s best interests.b. allocating sufficient time to discharge their responsibilities effectively.c. reaching a view on issues based upon proper and impartial consideration of the facts presented and not on the basis of predetermined or partisan views.d. supporting corporate decisions whatever one’s personal view on the matter.e. respecting any decision of the Committee that an item of business should remain confidential unless there is a legal requirement to waive confidentiality.f. declaring any potential conflict of interest arising from discussions of business or from other aspects of membership and, where appropriate, recusing themselves from discussions of business. 6. SecretariatThe GCO will provide the secretary to the Committee and will ensure that the relevant information and papers are issued to members in a timely manner to enable full and proper consideration to be given to the issues. 7. MeetingsThe Committee will have a minimum of two meetings a year, with meeting dates agreed annually with the Chair. Meetings of the Committee may have to be moved / amended as required by the relevant GCO remuneration and people policies.The secretariat will record actions and decisions of all committee meetings, including the names of those present. They will also make a record of any out of Committee decisions and actions. 8. Other mattersThe quorum necessary for any approval or recommendation will be three, including at least one Non-Executive Director and matters can be considered, and recorded, out of formal Committee meetings.

What guidance his Department has issued to other Departments on methods for monitoring workplace attendance.

As separate employers, it is for each department to determine methods for monitoring workplace attendance of employees. Current Civil Service guidance requires Civil Servants to attend the office or work face-to-face with colleagues at least 60% of the time. Considerations for monitoring workplace attendance, for example advice on GDPR compliance, has been provided to departments. Additionally, HQ Occupancy data collection enables the Cabinet Office to gain a general understanding of each department’s position to ensure efficient and effective use of the estate. The latest headquarters occupancy data for each Government department is available publicly on gov.uk

Whether Ministers are required to declare trade union meetings in transparency returns.

Meetings with external organisations and individuals are declared quarterly in arrears on GOV.UK. Published declarations include official meetings with trade unions, subject to any exemptions listed in the Guidance. Updated guidance on ministers' meetings was published to GOV.UK on 30 January 2025 at the following address: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance/ministers-overseas-travel-and-meetings-publication-guidance.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14973 on Civil Service: Equality, if he will list each exemption reported by Departments since 14 May 2024.

Any reported exemptions will be published in due course.

Whether he has a target to reduce the headcount size of the (a) Cabinet Office and its agencies and (b) Civil Service in 2025.

The Prime Minister has set out his ambition to deliver long-term, impactful changes to reshape the British state and the Government is taking forward a number of measures to deliver greater efficiency and transformation in the Civil Service. Each department will take a decision on its individual size and shape as per the financial settlement it agreed with HMT in the first Phase of the Spending Review that concluded with the Autumn Statement 2024. The Prime Minister has announced that the Government is committed to cutting bureaucracy across the state, in order to focus government on the priorities of working people and shift money to the frontline. As part of this, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the arms-length body NHS England. The Government has also announced the first zero-based review of government spending in 17 years, with departments expected to go line-by-line to find savings and efficiencies, including in bodies and agencies that they sponsor.

Whether he has a target for a reduction in the size of the headcount of (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) the Civil Service in 2025.

The Prime Minister has set out his ambition to deliver long-term, impactful changes to reshape the British state and the Government is taking forward a number of measures to deliver greater efficiency and transformation in the Civil Service. Each department will take a decision on its individual size and shape as per the financial settlement it agreed with HMT in the first Phase of the Spending Review that concluded with the Autumn Statement 2024. The Prime Minister has announced that the Government is committed to cutting bureaucracy across the state, in order to focus government on the priorities of working people and shift money to the frontline. As part of this, the Prime Minister announced the abolition of the arms-length body NHS England. The Government has also announced the first zero-based review of government spending in 17 years, with departments expected to go line-by-line to find savings and efficiencies, including in bodies and agencies that they sponsor.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, what criteria were applied to determine whether a role was urgent or critical during the pre-election period.

The guidance regarding recruitment of Senior Civil Servants during the pre-election period was published on the gov.uk website here.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 22202 on Foreign Investment in the UK: National Security, how many transactions have related to China since 5 July 2024.

The Government publishes an annual report on the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021, with information about the transactions that it has been notified about and those it subsequently called in for a full national security assessment.The reports include, amongst other things, the percentage of accepted notifications, call-in notices issued, final notifications issued and the number of withdrawals from a called in acquisition and final orders issued by origin of investment.The NSI Annual Report 2023-24 was published on 10 September 2024. In this period 3% of accepted notifications involved acquirers associated with China. The period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 will be covered in the next annual report, which will be published later this year.

Pursuant to the Answer of 26 July 2024 to Question 1260 on External by Default Recruitment, how many urgent exemptions to external by default recruitment were granted during the pre-election period.

Details of exemptions to External by Default recruitment are not held centrally. It is the responsibility of all Ministerial departments, Non-Ministerial departments, Executive Agencies and Crown Non-Departmental Public Bodies to hold their own recruitment records including those relating to exemptions to External by Default.

Pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22040 on Government departments: trade unions, which unions pay their trade union membership subscriptions via check-off in the Cabinet Office; how many members pay in that way; and at what cost to his Department.

The Cabinet Office does not deduct trade union subscriptions from staff via payroll.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 21685 on Civil Service: Pensions, if he will publish the most recent Employer Pension Notice from the Cabinet Office to Government departments on the disclosure of Senior Civil Servants' pensions under their financial reporting requirements.

The most recent Employer Pension Notice (EPN), EPN 727, was published on the Civil Service Pension website on 31 January 2025.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 13804 on Civil Service: Workplace Pensions, if he will list the non-Civil Service organisations whose employees are eligible for the Civil Service Pension Scheme.

A list of the non-Civil Service organisations whose employees are eligible for the Civil Service Pension Scheme is available in the public domain and can be found on the member section of the Civil Service Pension website.

Whether the portal for all transparency data announced in July 2023 has been cancelled.

The portal, announced by the previous Government in July 2023, did not receive funding at the time and this remains the case.This Government has already introduced tangible improvements to transparency data, notably the monthly Register of Ministers’ Gifts and Hospitality, published centrally by the Cabinet Office on GOV.UK