Written questions by Holden.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14712 on Honours: Public Appointments, if he will list the assessment panel members for each of those competitions (a) before they closed and (b) after they re-opened.

Pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2024 to Question 14712 on Honours: Public Appointments, the assessment panel members for each of the competitions mentioned (a) before they closed and (b) after they re-opened are as follows: (i) Community and Voluntary Service:Panel before the advert closed: The Rt Hon Nick Hurd - Chair, Community and Voluntary Service Honours Committee; Meenal Sachdev - Co-Founder of Connect India (independent panel member); Alison Bennett - (then) Deputy Director, Honours and Appointments Secretariat, Cabinet Office.Panel after advert re-opened: The Rt Hon Nick Hurd - Chair, Community and Voluntary Service Honours Committee; Vijay Krishnarayan - former Director, Commonwealth Foundation (independent panel member); Official from the Honours and Memorialisation Secretariats, Cabinet Office. (ii) Parliamentary and Political Service:Panel before the advert closed: Lord Sherbourne - Chair, Parliamentary and Political Service Honours Committee; Natascha Engel - former MP (independent panel member); Alison Bennett - (then) Deputy Director, Honours and Appointments Secretariat.Panel after advert re-opened: Lord Sherbourne - Chair, Parliamentary and Political Service Honours Committee; Natascha Engel - former MP (independent panel member); Clare Brunton OBE - Deputy Director, Honours and MemorialisationSecretariats. (iii) Diversity and Outreach (formerly called Representation and Outreach):Panel before advert closed: Sir Chris Wormald KCB - (then) Chair, Main Honours Committee, Mary Mcleod - CEO, Business in the Community; Alison Bennett - (then) Deputy Director, Honours and Appointments Secretariat, Cabinet Office.Panel after advert reopened: Sir Chris Wormald KCB - (then) Chair, Main Honours Committee (this was what was advertised - he will now be replaced by Dame Tamara Finkelstein as the new Chair, Main Honours Committee); Official from the Honours and Memorialisation Secretariats. The independent panel member has not yet been confirmed. As is longstanding practice, officials in the delegated grades (i.e. who are not Senior Civil Servants) are not normally named publicly.

Whether he plans to lay an Official Statistics Order to designate Skills England’s statistical outputs as official statistics.

The information requested falls under the remit of the UK Statistics Authority. A response to the Hon gentleman’s Parliamentary Question of 13th January is attached.

Pursuant to the Answer of 29 October 2024 to Question 10436 on Special Advisers: Training and with reference to the Freedom of Information Act request with reference FOI2024/14571, for what reason the requested information was released under the Freedom of Information Act; and if he will publish that response.

All Freedom of Information requests are considered on their individual merits in accordance with the relevant legislation. A copy of the information released in the response will be deposited in the House Library.

With reference to the Answer of 19 November 2024 to Question HL2339, on Cabinet Office: TikTok, how many staff are assigned to the New Media Unit; whether it includes special advisers; and whether it is based inside (a) 10 Downing Street and (b) the Cabinet Office.

The New Media Unit will initially draw expertise through departmental staff loans and will sit within the Cabinet Office with oversight from the Prime Minister's Office.

What estimate he has made of the potential cost to the public purse of the proposed increase in employer National Insurance contributions on the Duchy of Lancaster.

Information about the Duchy of Lancaster's accounts will be published by the Duchy in the usual way.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 December 2024 to Question HL2771 on Civil Servants: Recruitment, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of crown servant internships not being open those of white British backgrounds on community relations, in the context of Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010.

Individual departments are responsible for recruitment decisions and they are required to meet all obligations of relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. If a department wants to restrict an internship programme to a specific group or groups, it would be expected to ensure that it complies with the relevant legislation. As each case will be unique, a generic assessment would not be appropriate. This approach has not changed since when the Rt Hon member was a minister in the department.

Pursuant to the Answer of (a) 6 January 2025 to Question 21057 on Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs: Unpaid Work and (b) 20 November 2024 to Question 14502 on Gender: Equality, whether guidance is provided to Government departments on the potential situations in which it would be permissible for access to internship schemes to be restricted to people from non-white backgrounds.

Individual departments are responsible for recruitment decisions and they are required to meet all obligations of relevant legislation, including the Equality Act 2010. If a department wants to restrict an internship programme to a specific group or groups, it would be expected to ensure on a case by case basis that it complies with the relevant legislation. As a result, as was the case under the previous administration, no central guidance is provided on this matter.

Pursuant to the Answer of 25 November 2024 to Question 13808 on 9 Downing Street: Media, whether refurbishment works had been commissioned when this Answer was given.

No refurbishment works had been commissioned.

Pursuant to the answer of 27 December 2024 to Question 20832 on Special Advisers: Pay, if he will ensure that the list of special advisers is published by 31 March 2025.

I refer the Rt Hon Member to my response to PQ 20832 and PQ 22188.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 19415 on Ed Miliband, whether the Rt Hon Member for Islington North (a) made an application for and (b) received a severance payment.

Ministers and certain office-holders are entitled to a severance payment when they leave office under the Ministerial and other Pensions and Salaries Act 1991. As set out in the Act, to be eligible to receive the payment ministers and office-holders must be under the age of 65 when they leave office. Under this provision, the Rt Hon Member for Islington North was not eligible to receive a severance payment when he left the role of Leader of the Opposition in 2020.

Pursuant to the Answer of 9 January 2025 to Question 21403 on Cabinet Office: Pay, whether the mean salary of civil servants in the (a) Women's Equality Unit, (b) Race Disparity Unit and (c) Disability Unit will be included in the Government's transparency reporting.

Details of Cabinet Office structure and salaries are due to be published by the end of January 2025 as part of regular transparency reporting. This will include the Office for Equality and Opportunities and within it the sub units of: Women’s Equality Unit, Race Disparity Unit, and Disability Unit. As was the case under the previous administration, the Cabinet Office does not specifically publish the mean salaries of these civil servants.

If he will publish of the questionnaire form that incoming Ministers are asked to provide to the Propriety and Ethics Team.

The established process for the declaration and management of ministers’ private interests is set out in Part B Chapter 3 of the Ministerial Code. Details of the categories ministers are asked to declare their interests in can be found in the List of Ministers’ Interests, along with more information on the interests process. The last list was published in November 2024 and is available here: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/67407bad53373262c0d825f6/List_of_Ministers__Interests.pdf

Whether Baroness Casey made a declaration of political activity following her appointment as Lead Non-Executive Director.

Baroness Casey followed the published process for declaring any interests.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/non-executive-board-member-declaration-of-interests-process/non-executive-board-member-declaration-of-interests-process#contextInterests will be published in due course on the department’s website.

Pursuant to the Answer of 8 January 2025 to Question 19414 on Non-departmental Public Bodies, how many non-departmental public bodies the Government plans to (a) open and (b) close.

As said in my previous answer of 8 January 2025, Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established Arm’s Length Bodies, including NDPBs. Individual departments are responsible for any proposals to open or close NDPBs.

Whether any internship programmes at (a) MI5, (b) M16 and (c) GCHQ were open to people from white British backgrounds.

Yes. In recent years, 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.

What guidance he has provided to Government departments on publishing details of individual Civil Service pensions for senior officials under (a) Financial Reporting requirements and (b) the Freedom of Information Act.

In relation to what guidance the Cabinet Office has provided to government departments on publishing details of individual Civil Service pensions for senior officials: (a) Financial Reporting requirements - The Cabinet Office issues an ‘Employer Pension Notice’ (EPN) to government departments each year, so they can provide the disclosure of Senior Civil Servants' pensions under their Financial Reporting requirements. (b) Under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) - I refer the right honourable member to the answer given in 15229 answered on 29 November 2024. The Cabinet Office has not issued either internal or external guidance on whether FOIA requests requesting information on senior civil servants should be disclosed. All requests are considered on their own merits in all circumstances.

Whether he plans to discuss the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice in negotiations on changes to the EU-UK relationship.

There has been no change in the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice rulings in relation to the UK. We are also clear that we will not be re-joining the Single Market, the Customs Union or Freedom of Movement.

With reference to the Answer of 2 May 2023 to Question 182119 on Cabinet Office: Training, if he will take steps to encourage other public sector employers to phase out unconscious bias training.

The government is committed to an evidence based approach to training. In 2021 the previous administration published a report on the efficacy of unconscious bias training with recommendations on alternative approaches to support workforce equality. At the time other public sector organisations were encouraged to take account of this.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/unconscious-bias-and-diversity-training-what-the-evidence-says There has been no change in the approach under this government

How many staff in his Department have undertaken two consecutive jobs without external competition since 3 July 2024.

The requested information is not centrally held, and complying with this request would incur a disproportionate cost to the department.

With reference to page 14 of his Department's report entitled Security and Intelligence Agencies Financial Statement 2023-24, published on 2 December 2024, if he will publish the (a) reasons for and (b) nature of the 870 losses and special payments; and what steps he is taking to help prevent such losses.

As has been the policy of successive governments, the government does not comment on matters relating to the intelligence agencies. The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament scrutinises the policies, expenditure, administration and operations of the intelligence agencies on behalf of Parliament.