Written questions by Wood.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 June 2025 to Question 60489 on Universities: Fees and Charges, whether young people from EU member states coming to the UK under the proposed UK-EU youth mobility scheme would pay international student fees.

We have agreed that we will work towards the establishment of a balanced youth experience scheme with the EU. Any scheme will be time-limited and capped, and we have also been clear that it should be in line with the UK’s existing schemes with countries like Australia and New Zealand. The primary purpose of a youth mobility scheme is cultural exchange and to give young people opportunities to experience life overseas on a temporary basis. We have not agreed to offer home fee status to EU students. Most new EU students who were not lawfully resident in the UK before the end of the transition period on 31 December 2020 pay international fees.

With reference to the guidance entitled Civil Service 2024/2025 External Expenditure on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, published on 30 May 2025, what the Cross-Civil Service Pride funding was spent on; and which suppliers were used.

The £8,500 funding listed in the data published on 30 May 2025 was the maximum approved budget. The current spend is £7,395. This money supported staff to participate in a number of Pride events across the UK. Naming supplier organisations may breach commercial agreements between the department and suppliers. All purchasing followed Cabinet Office guidance appropriate to the level of spend.

Whether the National Security Adviser is (a) secretary of the National Security Council, (b) head of the National Security Secretariat and (c) Principal Accounting Officer for the Single Intelligence Account.

The role of secretary to the National Security Council is fulfilled by the Deputy National Security Advisers. The Executive Deputy National Security Adviser is the corporate head of the National Security Secretariat. The Cabinet Secretary is the Principal Accounting Officer for the Single Intelligence Account.

What progress has been made on appointing the new Conservative political member for the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments.

The appointment of political members to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (ACOBA) is a decision for the Prime Minister following nomination from the relevant Party with a vacancy. A decision on the appointment of a Conservative member to the Committee will be confirmed as soon as possible.

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.

With reference to the written ministerial statement of 19 June 2025, HCWS718, on House of Lords Appointments, whether the Prime Minister has a numerical target for the number of peerages that he will invite from HOLAC in each year of this Parliament.

As set out in the Prime Minister’s recent statement, the Prime Minister will continue to invite nominations from the House of Lords Appointments Commission for individuals to sit as Crossbench peers. Future appointments will be announced in the usual way. The number of nominations that HOLAC can make is a matter for the Prime Minister.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.