Every parliamentary written question tabled by Mike Wood this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 1,701–1,720 of 1,807 · Cabinet Office
If he will make it his policy to ensure that transparency returns from his Department include an indicative value of any hospitality received.
The Ministerial Code already requires ministers to declare the estimated value, where possible, of any hospitality received above de minimus levels. As has been the case under successive administrations, special advisers and senior officials are not required to declare the value of hospitality received.
Pursuant to the Answer of 15 January 2025 to Question 22459 on Honours, if he will publish that guidance.
New guidance on ministerial involvement in the Honours System will be issued in due course.
If he will publish a list of every Arm’s Length Body that exists as of January 2025.
The Cabinet Office publishes an annual ALB Landscape Analysis around a year in arrears. The most recently published ALB Landscape Analysis was published on 17 December 2024 and is available here. The list of every Arm's Length Body that exists as of January 2025 is due to be published in 2026.
Pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2025 to Question 30683 on Cabinet Office: Media, how many staff are assigned to the New Media Unit; what grades they are assigned at; and whether this includes special advisers.
The New Media Unit is currently made up of departmental loans while it is in its initial phase. There are no special advisers assigned to the New Media Unit. Recruitment for its permanent structure is ongoing.
What equality, diversity and inclusion courses are provided by Civil Service Learning.
The only cross Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) course provided through the Cabinet Office’s central training contracts is Civil Service Expectations.
Pursuant to the Answer of 20 January 2025 to Question 24253 on Cabinet Office: Equality, which diversity and inclusion (a) days and (b) weeks and (c) months were marked from July 2024 to December 2024 inclusive.
As has been the case under previous administrations, the Cabinet Office marks a range of events throughout the year. During the period from July 2024 to December 2024 inclusive, this included marking events such as Rosh Hashanah, Black History Month, National Inclusion Week, and Inter Faith Week. These events were marked through a range of means that included intranet articles, panel events, internal newsletters, and network events.
Whether his Department plans to bring forward a new official statistics order to include the Regulatory Innovation Office.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 23rd March is attached.
Pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29029 on FCDO: Speeches, what guidance his Department has issued on whether substantive and scripted Ministerial speeches in government buildings which are not ministerial residences can include party political content where such speeches are being broadcast live using government resources.
As outlined in the Ministerial Code, Government property should not generally be used for work that is in its essential nature about constituency or party political activities. The Permanent Secretary at the FCDO has explained that the essential nature of the speech in question was not party political. In line with the Government Communication Service Propriety & Ethics guidance, party political messaging should be removed before publication on gov.uk and was in this case.
With reference to his Department's guidance entitled Civil Service Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Expenditure Guidance, published on 14 May 2024, whether any exemptions have been approved since 30 May 2024.
One exemption has been approved by the Permanent Secretary to the Cabinet Office.Details of external EDI expenditure will be reported in due course, as per the EDI Expenditure Guidance requirements.
Pursuant to the Answer of 26 November 2024 to Question 14769 on Civil Servants: Secondment, which of the recommendations from the Boardman report which have not been implemented will not be taken forward by the Cabinet Office.
The 2021 Boardman report recommended the interchange of resources between government and the private sector. We are committed to promoting the recruitment of external employees into roles in government at all levels of the Civil Service to fill critical skill gaps. A number of secondments programmes have been set up across government to bring in critical skills across a range of sectors, to include the private sector, enabling talented individuals from outside the Civil Service to contribute to the work of Government.For example, the Digital and Data profession launched the Digital Secondments Programme. Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s (DSIT) Expert Exchange programme brings in experts for a variety of roles, including digital, technology and AI, and GO-Science is exploring a scheme to bring greater scientific expertise into policymaking roles through STEM futures. More broadly, this government is committed to restoring honesty and integrity in public life and has already introduced a number of changes to strengthen standards across government. This includes issuing a new Ministerial Code which highlights the importance of the principles of public life, strengthening the terms of reference for the Independent Adviser on Ministerial Standards, and introducing a new monthly Register of Ministers’ Gifts and Hospitality. We will continue to take necessary and proportionate steps in this area.
With reference to the report entitled Greening Government Commitments April 2021 to March 2024, published on 20 February 2025, what methodologies his Department uses to (a) collect and (b) collate data on (i) TCO2e emissions on domestic flights and (ii) the distance travelled in km for international flights.
DEFRA sets these methodologies through yearly carbon indices across government, including for the Cabinet Office, in line with the Greening Government Commitments.
Pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 10701 on Special Advisers: Workplace Pensions, whether special advisers have been informed of the consequences to their pensions of leaving service before two years’ of tenure in the Alpha pension scheme.
Special Advisers are provided with guidance regarding Civil Service Pension schemes during onboarding and offboarding, as well as throughout their tenure. This includes details of leaving the scheme within two years. Special Advisers are also directed to published Civil Service Pension scheme resources.
Whether Downing Street special advisers have met with Quadrature since 5 July 2024.
In line with longstanding process, relevant meetings are declared in the Special Advisor transparency publications.
How many Downing Street civil servants, excluding special advisers, were permitted to attend the 2024 Labour Party conference.
Civil servants are prohibited from attending party conferences in an official capacity, except in very exceptional circumstances when their presence may be required to carry out essential departmental business unconnected with the conference.
Whether the Prime Minister has used the RAF 32 Squadron’s Dassault Falcon 900LX executive jets for travel inside the UK.
It has been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of protected individuals and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom.
What changes he is making through the Performance management framework for the Senior Civil Service for 2025-26.
The Senior Civil Service (SCS) performance management framework for the 2025-26 performance year has been published and the changes have been set out within the document. They will take effect from the 1st April 2025.
Pursuant to the Answer of 21 February 2025 to Question 30825 on Ministers: Helicopters, if he will list all the providers that can provide helicopter transport under the terms of the Commercial Air Transport contract.
The Cabinet Office has a general travel contract in place provided by Corporate Travel Management (North) Ltd (CTM) that can arrange travel by various modes. CTM maintains a comprehensive database of pre-approved operators. Owing to security considerations, and the commercially sensitive nature of the contract, CTM is unable to provide details of individual operators. This contract started in September 2022, under the previous administration. This contract has not been used for helicopter travel by this Government.
Pursuant to the Answer of 24 February 2025 to Question 27921 on Cabinet Office: Secondment, whether (a) any staff in his Department are seconded from other local authorities and (b) the secondee from Camden council works on policy.
Secondments are part of a range of ways of bringing talent and experience into the civil service for short periods of time and have been used by successive governments. Secondments are arranged at a business unit level and must follow the processes as set out in the Civil Service Recruitment Principles. As the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster set out in his speech in December 2024, we will be bringing in secondees - both frontline workers and digital and data experts - to help deliver public service reform. This includes the secondee referenced from Camden Council, who works as the Director of Public Service Reform in the Public Sector Reform and Efficiency team. More details will be published in the quarterly Organogram of Staff Roles & Salaries on data.gov.uk.
If he will publish his Department’s internal guidance on answering written Parliamentary Questions.
As was the case under previous administrations, there are currently no such plans to publish this guidance.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 January 2025 to Question 22196, on Senior Civil Service: Recruitment, for what reasons can these individuals not be identified.
Under the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR), we are prohibited from providing information about individuals, or which can be used to identify individuals, to third parties without their express permission. By providing job titles, this could lead to individuals being identifiable. While the details regarding some Senior Civil Service appointment processes are made public, many are not.