Written questions by Wood.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91375 on Cabinet Office: Facilities Agreements, whether paid trade union activity facility time in a (a) department and (b) Arm’s Length Body must be approved by a Minister.

The Cabinet Office issued Facility Time Framework is intended to apply to all departments and executive agencies employing civil servants. It encourages Arms Length Bodies to adopt the Framework where possible. The Framework specifies that paid time off to undertake trade union activities should be agreed by the department’s Secretary of State or Permanent Secretary. A copy of the Facility Time Framework and its supporting guidance was deposited in the House Library earlier this year.

With reference to page 33 of the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-2025, published on 23 October 2025, whether his Department is currently in full compliance with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures Phase 2 requirements.

The Cabinet Office is compliant with Phase 2 TCFD requirements for the 2024-25 financial year, covering Governance, Risk Management, and Metrics and Targets (p45 of the annual report). These disclosures were reviewed by the NAO audit to ensure mandated requirements were published. We reported Scope 1 and Scope 2 GHG emissions and are proceeding with Phase 3 implementation in the 2025-26 Annual Report.

Whether his Department operates a code system to determine when and what replies are given to written parliamentary questions.

It is for the answering Minister to determine how to reply to a written parliamentary question.

Pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91618 on Cabinet Office: Social Media, on what topics, campaigns and programmes the expenditure on each platform was for.

Please see below for the requested breakdown:CampaignPlatformNMU - Border SecurityMetaNMU - Breakfast ClubsMetaCabinet Office - COVID enquiryMeta, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, RedditNMU - Community Diagnostic CentresMeta, SnapchatGovernment Digital and DataLinkedInGreat FuturesLinkedInNMU - NeighbourhoodsMetaVeteran employment support campaignMeta, LinkedInVeterans healthcare campaignMeta

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95640 on Senior Civil Servants: Redundancy Pay, what was the legal basis for the previous Cabinet Secretary being given an exit payment.

The Employment Rights Act 1996 defines contracts and employee rights for pay, leave, dismissal and other employment rights. The model Permanent Secretary contract mentioned in the answer of 9 December 2025, states the terms and conditions and is used for Permanent Secretary level appointments including the Cabinet Secretary.

With reference to page 132 of the Cabinet Office Annual report and accounts 2024-2025, published on 23 October 2025, for what reason his Department retained £90 million of dividends and returned £71 million of dividends to HM Treasury from the Crown Commercial Service.

In the spending review 2021, HM Treasury agreed that dividends received from Crown Commercial Service were to be returned to HMT and would be compensated with an annual reserve claim of up to £71 million. In the Autumn Budget 2024, HMT approved that in 2024-25, in addition to the annual reserve claim, the Cabinet Office may retain up to £196 million in income from dividends from the Crown Commercial Service.

Pursuant to the answer of 26 November 2025 to Question 92016 on Civil Service: Management, for what reason the Terms of Reference are not subject to external publication.

The Corporate governance in central government departments: code of good practice (2017) does not require publication of board and committee Terms of Reference.

Whether his Department has a book of precedents.

The Cabinet Office Precedent Book was last updated in 1992 and has been largely superseded by other documents, including the Cabinet Manual.The Cabinet Office does not maintain a book of precedents.

Whether any publications have failed SAFE assessments due to gender-critical content.

There have been no such instances of failure.

Further to his Department's publication entitled Public-sector trade union facility time data, updated on 27 November 2025, how many and what proportion of public bodies required to submit facility time data did not submit data, including data by (a) civil service, (b) education, (c) local authorities, (d) NHS, (e) police and (f) other bodies in (i) 2023-24 and (ii) 2024-25.

A list of the Public Bodies which are required to submit facility time data can be found in Schedule 1 of The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.The public-sector trade union facility time data for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025 has been published on .gov.uk.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91376 on Government Hospitality: Wines, how much his Department spent with Berry Bros for invoices under £25,000 since 4 July 2024.

I refer the Hon Member to the answer of 25 November 2025, Official Report, PQ 91376.

Pursuant to the answer of 25 November 2025 to Question 91381 on Tom Kibasi, what the length of his secondment to Downing Street was.

Tom Kibasi was hired on secondment for a period of 2 months.

Whether he plans to use the National Security and Investment Act 2021 to restrict Chinese ownership of companies in (a) water, (b) electricity, (c) gas, (d) telecoms, (e) data centres and (f) nuclear.

The Government has powers under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act 2021 to review and, where required, intervene in investments that may pose a risk to national security. The NSI Act both facilitates investment into sensitive sectors with appropriate safeguards where needed, and provides powers to act in the interests of national security where necessary and proportionate. Acquisitions considered under the NSI Act are reviewed on a case-by-case basis and the Government will not hesitate to use its powers where necessary.

Pursuant to the Answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 93002 on Devolution, and with reference to his Department's joint press release entitled UK Minister vows to work with devolved nations to deliver growth in first visit to Northern Ireland, published on 3 October 2024, for what reason the press release referred to the devolved nations.

Reminders on terminology have been issued to relevant teams and departments.

Pursuant to the Answers of 9 December 2025 to Question 96208 on Public Appointments: Pay and Question 94701 on Baroness Shafik, how many direct ministerial appointments are currently in post in the Cabinet Office and Downing Street; and if he will set out their title, responsibilities and remuneration.

I refer the Honoural Member to the answer given to PQ UIN 98100.The responsibilities of these organisations and postholders can be found in their published terms of reference on GOV.UK

Pursuant to the answer of 19 November 2025, to Question 90248, on Official Cars: Prime Minister, if she will set out the reason that disclosing the aggregated figure would impact national security.

It is our long-standing policy not to provide detailed information on those arrangements, as doing so could compromise their integrity and affect individuals’ security.

Pursuant to the answer of 2 December 2025 to Question 94201 on Trade Union Officials: Facilities Agreements, if he will publish that guidance.

A copy of the Facility Time Framework and its supporting guidance was deposited in the House Library in May of this year.

What the estimated cost is of the Census 2031 in cash terms.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 12th of December is attached.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 December 2025 to Question 95639 on Civil Service: Redundancy, whether the Redundancy and Compensation Control process holds or collates data on departmental spending on exit payments and the number of civil servants leaving the Civil Service through such processes.

Whilst indicative figures are part of the cases submitted to Cabinet Office, the Redundancy and Compensation control does not hold data on the final number or cost of exits payments. This data is available in each department’s annual report and accounts.

If he will publish the Cabinet Office Facility Time Framework.

A copy of the Facility Time Framework and its supporting guidance was deposited in the House Library in May of this year.