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 1,961–1,980 of 2,423 · this parliament
Media and Sport, whether her Department plans to submit evidence to the Ofcom consultation on a change to broadcasting rules for politicians as presenters, published on 12 May 2025.
Ofcom is the UK’s regulator for broadcasting and by law carries out its duties independently of the Government. It would not be appropriate for the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to submit evidence to Ofcom’s consultation.
Whether he considered making the Government Lead Non-Executive Director a regulated public appointment.
The most recent Public Appointments Order in Council, which sets out all regulated public appointments, was made at Privy Council on 15 November 2023. The Government Lead Non-Executive was not included at that time or any time prior. Consideration of whether a role should be regulated, including whether it should be a significant appointment or subject to pre-appointment scrutiny, should happen at the point the role is created (in this case 2010), and mechanisms exist to make such changes outside of the periodic process for updating the Order in Council and the published lists. The most recent appointment of the Government Lead Non-Executive in January 2025 was made via an open and transparent recruitment process. This was the first time this appointment has been done in this way. All prior appointments were made directly by the Prime Minister of the day without competition.
With reference to the press notice entitled Appointment of Cabinet Office Board Lead Non-Executive Board Member, published on 26 May 2025, whether the new Cabinet Office Lead Non-Executive Board Member has made a (a) public appointments declaration of political activity and (b) board member declaration of interest.
The Lead Non-Executive Board Member declared all interests in line with the Governance Code on Public Appointments during the appointments process. Any relevant declarations made during this process can be found on the public appointments website. The individual also declared interests as a Board Member. Any relevant declarations made in line with this guidance can be found on the Cabinet Office’s website.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Agreement between the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Mauritius concerning the Chagos Archipelago including Diego Garcia, CP 1334, whether payments to be made will be allocated to the (a) defence and (b) official development assistance budget.
The costs associated with the deal will be split between the Ministry of Defence and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. None of the funds will be classed as development aid.
Pursuant to the Answer of 13 November 2024 to Question 6095 on Cabinet Office: Public Appointment, for what reasons those direct ministerial and public appointees left their posts.
I refer the Honoural Member to the answer he was given to PQ UIN 6095 on 13th November 2024.
For what reason transparency data on (a) Ministerial gifts and hospitality and (b) senior officials and special advisers are published with different frequencies.
Following updates to the Ministerial Code in November 2024, the Government moved publication of Ministers' gifts and hospitality from quarterly to monthly. This brought declarations broadly in line with those required by Members in Parliament. As with previous administrations, departments publish transparency data on senior officials and special advisers on a quarterly basis.
With reference to the written statement entitled Plan for Change: Milestones for mission-led government, of 5 December 2024, HCWS285, if he will make it his policy to report every six months on the (a) metrics and (b) targets set out in that plan.
The Plan for Change sets out clear and transparent milestones, and our plan to achieve them. We published graphs and links to the statistics on the outcomes for these milestones. The statistical annex published on gov.uk on the Plan for Change – Milestones for mission-led government provides further detail. These milestones will allow the public to track our progress and hold the government to account for their delivery.
If he will publish the Government Campus training course materials entitled Inclusive Leadership Programme (inclusive cultures, decision making, and relationships).
The Inclusive Leadership Programme is delivered by a third party supplier, who owns the intellectual property. The learning objectives for this course can be found on the prospectus online: https://prospectus.governmentcampus.co.uk/03-diversity-equality-and-inclusion/inclusive-leadership-programme-inclusive-cultures-decision-making-and-relationships/
What guidance the UK Statistics Authority has provided to public bodies on the use of Social Time Preference Rate discounting when presenting the cost of public policies.
The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 30th May is attached.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what the (a) type of alcohol, (b) make and (c) vintage was of each bottle of alcohol consumed from the Government Wine Cellar at each Number (i) 10 and (ii) 11 Downing Street reception other than diplomatic hospitality since 4 July 2024; when each reception took place; and what the theme was of each reception.
No alcohol from the Government Wine Cellar has been consumed at receptions held at Number 10 and Number 11 Downing Street since 4 July 2024.
Pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2025 to Question 25446 on Wylfa Power Station, whether the Wylfa nuclear power station development will be classified as public sector.
Great British Nuclear (GBN) purchased the Wylfa site in June 2024, and it is recorded as an asset on the Government’s balance sheet. As a site with a history of hosting a nuclear power station, the government is working closely with GBN to assess options for new nuclear at Wylfa. No decisions have been taken yet on any specific projects or technologies to be deployed.
How many days a week staff of GB Energy will be required to be in the office.
Staff working on the set-up of GBE within DESNZ offices are expected to be in the office for 40%-60% of their working hours.
Pursuant to the Answer of 20 May 2025 to Question 51956 on 10 Downing Street: Energy Performance Certificates, what steps his Department has taken to improve the energy efficiency of 10 Downing Street since July 2024.
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 04 June 2025, Official Report, PQ 54015.
Pursuant to the Answer of 21 May 2025 to Question 47333 on Government Departments: Press Conference, which section of that guidance provides information on using party political fittings and furniture at official events.
I refer the Hon. Member to my answer of 21 May 2025, Official Report, PQ 47333.
Pursuant to the Answer of 23 January 2025 to Question 24138 on Prime Minister: Artificial Intelligence, whether the Downing Street Private Office uses the AI Redbox tool.
I refer the Hon. Member to the answer of 23 January 2025, Official Report, PQ 24138.
Pursuant to the Answer of 22 April 2025 to Question 44474 on Government Departments: Disclosure of Information, if she will take steps to ensure that transparency data is published in (a) one central searchable database and (b) Application Programming Interface formats.
I refer the Hon Member to my previous answers [UIN42570 and UIN46864] given on the 7th April and 28th April 2025. The Government has no current plans to publish this data as an Application Programming Interface.
What factors determined the timing of the Prime Minister's press conference on the Immigration White Paper on 12 May 2025.
I refer the Hon. Member to the transcript of the Prime Minister's speech at the press conference on 12 May 2025, available on gov.uk.
Whether (a) appointments to the Armed Forces Commissioner will be included in the Public Bodies Order in Council and (b) the chair appointment will be classified as a significant appointment.
The Armed Forces Commissioner Bill is in the final stages of its Parliamentary passage. Once the Bill achieves Royal Assent we will place the Armed Forces Commissioner on the Public Appointments Order in Council (subject to the necessary approvals) and therefore subject, in principle, to the Governance Code for Public Appointments. It is proposed that this appointment will be treated as a ‘significant’ appointment.
Pursuant to the Answer of 19 November 2024 to Question 12700 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, if he will place in the Library a copy of the information provided by the Cabinet Office to the Civil Service Commission.
There are no plans to publish this information in the Library. This information contains personal data and publishing it in the Library would be considered a breach of data protection legislation. The report that this information was used to inform is available on the Civil Service Commission’s website.
With reference to the press release entitled Government-branded merchandise and away days banned, published on 6 April 2025, whether senior civil servant leadership conferences will be able to take place in external venues in London.
As set out in the relevant policy, departments are required to ensure that external venues for away days are only used when space in government buildings is unavailable.