Written questions by Holden.

What his planned timeline is for the appointment of a new Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman.

The House of Commons leads on the recruitment of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, which is ongoing. We expect that further information will be made available shortly.

Whether he plans to use recruitment consultants for staffing test-and-learn teams.

The Test, Learn and Grow Programme will use existing government recruitment channels to staff the programme for the three years of the initiative. This includes the use of loans for existing Civil Servants, and fixed term appointments for external candidates. The programme will also leverage an inward secondment programme for public service delivery experts working near the frontline to help drive public service reform in their field. This scheme will be flexible in terms of duration and location, and specifically for those with experience relevant to the public service reform project. We do not plan to use recruitment consultants for these staffing needs.

Pursuant to the Answer of 22 October 2024 to Question 8637 on Cabinet Office: Vacancies, whether Mission Senior Responsible Officers have been appointed at a higher salary compared to their previous roles in the civil service.

Senior Responsible Officers for each of the five Missions were selected by the Cabinet Secretary and relevant Permanent Secretary, in consultation with their Secretary of State, on the basis of their expertise and experience. They remain on their current salaries and have not received any increase.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 13807 on Cabinet Office: Parliamentary Private Secretaries, if he will breakdown the number of staff in each ministerial private office, by named Minister.

There are 38 staff, at multiple grades, who support the 8 Cabinet Office ministers in private office roles. MinisterNumber of staff in Private OfficeChancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster8Minister for the Cabinet Office6Minister Oppong-Asare3Minister Reeves4Minister Gould6Minister Alexander1 (Cabinet Office portfolio only)Leader of the House of Lords3Leader of the House of Commons7

Whether he plans to issue new guidance on the proportion of the civil service jobs advertised to the public.

In May 2022 the then Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster wrote to cabinet ministers outlining all Senior Civil Service (SCS) jobs must be advertised externally to the public unless an exemption is approved. This continues to be the policy. As under the previous Government, for appointments below SCS level, departments have the authority to determine how they recruit in line with the Civil Service Commission’s Recruitment Principles. Again, this continues to be the policy.

Pursuant to the answer of 30 July 2024, to Question 1261, on Senior Civil Servants, if he will publish a breakdown by (a) department and (b) job title of senior civil service jobs (i) offered and (ii) appointed since 30 July 2024, including indicating where a Civil Service recruitment principles exception was applied.

Information on Senior Civil Service appointments is not collated centrally. Departments can run campaigns outside of the central recruitment services through their own Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) or processes, or make appointments from existing reserve lists. Therefore, we are unable to provide a full response. Appointments by exception at SCS2 or above must be approved by the Civil Service Commission, details of which are published on the commission’s website.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 10987 on Public Sector: Pay, if she will list which non-statutory office holders are paid through the Cabinet Office’s HR and payroll department.

This information is not held centrally.

Whether information about each Department's (a) spending control data and (b) exemptions is held centrally.

A Prime-Ministerial directive, issued in 2010, mandated all departments to publish details of all spend approvals from the Advertising, Marketing and Communications, Commercial, Contingent Labour, Digital and Technology, and National Property controls on a quarterly basis. The Cabinet Office’s publications are at this link https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/cabinet-office-spend-data . HMT Treasury delegates authority to departments to enter into commitments and spend within predefined limits without specific prior approval. Agreements of any exemptions a body holds from the Spend Controls should be recorded in the department’s delegation letter and in the Framework Document, or similar relationship-defining document, between the body and its sponsor department.

Whether the (a) Cabinet Office Commercial team and (b) any other public body holds information on which Ministers and officials have used the Commercial Air Transport Contract to have helicopter travel provided; and which body holds information on the (i) individual flights cost and (ii) total cost to the public purse.

The Cabinet Office Commercial team is responsible for managing and operating the Central Cabinet Office Corporate Travel Agency Contract, which includes provisions for the booking of aviation assets. This contract has not been used for helicopter travel by this Government.

Pursuant to the Answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 25851 on Intelligence Services: Unpaid Work, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of the eligibility criteria for the 2025 M15 and SIS internship schemes; and if he will request the Security Services make internship opportunities available to people from white British backgrounds.

In recent years, UK Intelligence Community (UKIC) has run a number of internships and placement schemes. They are designed to provide insight about what it is like to work in UKIC to individuals who have particular skills and expertise, want to work in a particular area and/or are from demographics and backgrounds under-represented across Government. Any internship participant wishing to subsequently apply for employment with UKIC or the Civil Service is required to take part in a fair and open competition, in the normal way, with selection based on merit.

Pursuant to the Answer of 11 February 2025 to Question 29005 on Risk Assessment, whether the National Security Risk Assessment on industrial action has changed in light of the expected (a) repeal of the Trade Union Act 2016 and (b) the passage of the Employment Rights Bill.

All risks in the internal, classified National Security Risk Assessment (NSRA) are kept under review to ensure that they are the most appropriate scenarios to inform emergency preparedness and resilience activity and to reflect the risk landscape. The National Risk Register, which reflects the NSRA, was last updated in January 2025 and will be updated regularly to reflect changes to the risk landscape.

Whether the Prime Minister has responded to correspondence from Baroness Carr following Prime Minister’s Questions on 12 February 2025.

The Lord Chancellor issued a response on 19 February 2025.

With reference to the document entitled The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies, published on 15 March 2018, and in the context of the proposed abolition of NHS England, whether his Department will consider the case for creating the National Care Service against the requirement that the creation of a new arms-length body should only be considered as a last resort.

It is for the relevant Minister to decide if policy within their portfolio should be delivered through the creation of a new public body. Departments seeking to establish an Arm’s Length Bodies must submit three business cases as part of the approval process, as outlined in ‘The Approvals Process for the Creation of New Arm’s-Length Bodies’. Once the the Cabinet Office receives a business case for a proposed new body there is a detailed process to ensure there is sufficient due diligence to establish a clear rationale for a proposed body.

Pursuant to the Answer of 13 February 2025 to Question 29026 on Trade Union Officials: Facilities Agreements, what his planned timetable is for publishing facility time data for 2024-25; and what month will be used as a baseline for the data.

Self-reported public-sector trade union facility time data, collected under the Facility Time Regulations, will be published in line with our standard timelines for this data set and the timelines under the previous administration.The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017 explain what is included in the published data set as well as the period this data set covers.

Whether he plans to lay a new Official Statistics Order to designate the National Data Library’s statistical outputs as official statistics.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon. Member's Parliamentary Question of 24th March is attached.

On what date Sir Alex Chisholm was given permission by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments to take up a role with Boston Consulting Group.

Sir Alex Chisholm was provided with his final advice from the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments on 30 October 2024. The advice was published on ACOBA’s page on GOV.UK on 12 March 2025, and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67b318fe7c070e71525f5801/ACOBA_advice-_Alex_Chisholm-_BCG.pdf

If he will publish the contract between OCS and his Department.

On 22 August 2023, following contract award, the OCS (formerly Atalian Servest Limited) Contract was published on Contracts Finder. It can be accessed using the link below. https://www.contractsfinder.service.gov.uk/notice/d27d862b-a997-44e4-a8d4-49eb871cb512?origin=SearchResults&p=1

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21403 on Cabinet Office: Pay, what the monetary gross paybill is, excluding pension contributions and National Insurance in aggregate for staff in the (a) Women’s Equality Unit, (b) Race Disparity Unit and (c) Disability Unit.

The salaries of the Senior Civil Servants responsible for the Women’s Equality Unit, Race Disparity Unit and Disability Unit and salary cost of their reports was published in January as part of Cabinet Office transparency reporting and can be found under the Organogram for Senior staff. https://www.data.gov.uk/dataset/ff76be1f-4f37-4bef-beb7-32b259413be1/organogram-cabinet-office

Pursuant to the answer of 30 January 2025 to Question 25456 on Senior Civil Servants: Training, how many people attended each conference.

148 people attended the conference on 23 July 2024 and 263 people attended the conference on 10 October 2024.

What steps has his Department taken to improve the speed of reviews conducted under the powers of the National Security and Investment Act since 5 July 2024.

The Government always seeks to conclude reviews under the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act as swiftly as possible. Reviews under the NSI Act are subject to statutory timelines. The Act is also kept under regular review to ensure it is operating as efficiently as possible.