Every parliamentary written question tabled by Richard Holden this session, with the full answer and department. See how every department answers, or back to the MP page.
Showing 2,141–2,160 of 2,912 · this parliament
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department engages with Client Earth.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office engages with a range of non-governmental organisations on environmental issues, including ClientEarth. For example, in February we hosted ClientEarth and other conservation organisations for a roundtable discussion as part of our consultation on the UK's approach to Africa.
Pursuant to the Answer of 14 May 2025 to Question 50224 on Pay: Publicity, how his Department distributed the 500,000 beer mats to pubs.
For the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage awareness campaign, 500,000 beer mats were distributed to 1,000 pubs across the country. Distribution targeted areas with high concentrations of minimum and living wage workers, identified through HMRC underpayment complaint data and ONS data on pay. Our distribution partners delivered directly to selected venues in these priority locations to maximise campaign effectiveness and reaching those directly eligible for the increase in the wage and those who could share this important information with friends and family members.
Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has had discussions with Inter Mediate on de-sanctioning the Syrian regime since July 2024.
The Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office does not routinely disclose the content of private discussions with external organisations.
With reference to the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament's press release of 1 May 2025, whether he plans to update the Committee's Memorandum of Understanding.
The Deputy National Security Adviser wrote to the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) on 23 May 2024 welcoming the Committee’s views on the Memorandum of Understanding between the ISC and the Prime Minister, as required in the National Security Act 2023.We will consider any response the Committee shares and provide a further update in due course.
Whether the Government learning framework includes training on equality, diversity and inclusion.
Like any employer, we offer a range of learning and development opportunities to give staff the skills they need to succeed in their roles, but courses must be assessed for value for money, and clear justifications must be provided for procuring learning and development activity. The Government Learning Frameworks catalogue of training courses and L&D services is available online at the Prospectus Online. This includes the Civil Service Expectations course, which is recommended to all Civil Servants as an introduction to the Civil Service code and values, the Equality Act 2010, and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy. There are other courses that contain elements of equality, diversity or inclusion, but to identify all courses that make reference to these topics would come at a disproportionate cost.
With reference to his Department's guidance entitled Civil Service Inclusive Practice privacy notice, published on 8 May 2025, how many civil servants are members of the Civil Service Inclusive Practice team; what its terms of reference are; and whether they receive Government funding.
The Civil Service Inclusive Practice Team (CSIP) is part of the Cabinet Office Government People Group (GPG). GPG provides a central support function for people based issues for the Civil Service.There are currently circa 13 full time equivalent employees in the team, all of whom are carrying out their primary paid role within the Civil Service. As such, CSIP do not receive any other Government funding nor do they have Terms of Reference.
Food and Rural Affairs, whether there is a consolidated public list of each (a) public authority and (b) private body with public functions that is subject to the Environmental Information Regulations.
No. There is no consolidated, public list of relevant bodies. Bodies are made subject to the Environmental Information Regulations 2004 (EIR) through the definition in regulation 2(2), rather than by designation. The Information Commissioner has jurisdiction to both investigate and decide whether a body is a public authority for these purposes. This definitional approach requires a contextual inquiry. The Commissioner’s decision may be subject to appeal through the courts. At best, a list of public authorities would be incomplete and rapidly out of date. Most public authorities subject to the EIR are listed by name or category in Schedule 1 to the Freedom of Information Act 2000.
When (a) vacancies were announced for the members of the House of Lords Appointments Commission and (b) the application process (i) closed and (ii) was cancelled; what the status is of the competition; and how many members are vacant.
The campaign to recruit up to two independent members to the Commission went live on 3 January 2025 and closed on 3 February 2025. Ministers are currently considering the next steps in this campaign and it remains open.
Representing the House of Commons Commission, pursuant to the Answer of 7 May 2025 to Question 47830 on House of Commons: Morning Star, what estimate the Commission has made of the level of demand for copies of the Morning Star across the Parliamentary Estate.
The Commission does not monitor the use of the copies of the Morning Star or other newspapers provided across the Parliamentary Estate. They are made freely available for Members in the Library and communal areas and there is no means for recording their use.
Pursuant to the Answer of 2 May 2025 to Question 48042 on Great British Energy: Staff, if he will publish the declaration of interests of each of those appointments; and which of those appointments are regulated public appointments.
All appointments were direct appointments, based on Great British Energy’s (GBE) set-up phase needs.All appointees have declared their interests to the Department as part of the appointment process. The Department and GBE are both committed to transparent and accountable governance and will publish expectations to this end in GBE's framework document later this year.
How many permanent civil servants in her Department are staff without assigned posts; and how many are placed in an equivalent (a) people action team, (b) priority movers list, (c) redeployment register, (d) talent pool and (e) skills match hub in the most recent period for which data is available.
There are 11 permanent civil servants in The Department for Work and Pensions without assigned posts as of 15/05/2025.These are all held on a priority movers list to enable matching against suitable roles and are also on the redeployment register which is shared with Other Government Departments to seek redeployment.
How many RAF Envoy IV flights have been provided to (a) the Prime Minister and (b) other Ministers for domestic travel since 4 July 2025.
It has been the practice of successive administrations not to publish granular information relating to the official movements of Ministers and those accompanying them within the United Kingdom. Information about official overseas travel is published as part of the Cabinet Office transparency returns and made available on the GOV.UK website.
Whether the records of the (a) Committee on the Grant of Honours, Decorations and Medals, (b) Royal Visits Committee and (c) Executive Committee for the Protection of Royalty and Public Figures are reviewed for permanent preservation under section 3 of the Public Records Act 1958; and whether their transfer to the National Archives is governed by an Operational Selection Policy agreed with the Keeper of Public Records in each case.
The Cabinet Office's Records Selection policy, which has been agreed with The National Archives, has been published on the Cabinet Office website. (https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/679108aeb1e4f5cbd3a34dfd/Cabinet_Office_Records_Selection_Policy.pdf)This sets out the criteria for selecting Cabinet Office records for permanent preservation.
Pursuant to the Answer of 28 April 2025 to Question 44594 on Ministers: Aviation, how many of the five tasks were (a) domestic flights within Great Britain and (b) flights from Great Britain to Northern Ireland.
None. All tasks were outside of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
If she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) section 21 and (b) other provisions within the Renters' Rights Bill on fixed-term asylum accommodation procured by her Department.
The Home Office keeps all aspects of the immigration system under regular review, in consultation with a wide range of experts and stakeholders.
What steps she is taking to (a) ensure the consistency of the passenger experience on trains on (i) C2C and (ii) Greater Anglia services after they have been nationalised and (b) establish penalties for those responsible for poor passenger experience.
Bringing passenger services into public ownership will ensure services are focused on delivering for passengers, not shareholders. Our priority is to deliver a smooth and safe transition of c2c’s and Greater Anglia’s services into public ownership this year, with no disruption to passengers. We expect public-sector operators to focus relentlessly on improving reliability, punctuality and other aspects of the service that matter most to passengers, and we will hold them to account for doing so.
With reference to the document entitled HM Treasury: Ministers' Hospitality - February 2025, published 25 April 2025, whether the Economic Secretary to the Treasury discussed the (a) foreign influence registration scheme and (b) China with TheCityUK on 6 February 2025.
I attended TheCityUK’s annual dinner on 6 February 2025. Each year, a minister and/or regulator addresses the dinner. Speakers in previous years have included the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Governor of the Bank of England, and numerous Economic Secretaries to the TreasuryI delivered a speech highlighting the important role of the financial services sector in delivering growth and setting out the Government's vision for the sector's future development and continued global leadershipThe foreign Influence Registration Scheme or China was not discussed.
Pursuant to the Answer of 11 December 2024 to Question 18399, on Media: Meetings, if he will take steps to amend Annex C of the guidance entitled Senior Officials’ business expenses, hospitality received and meetings with external organisations and individuals, published on 2 April 2024, to provide guidance on how social media organisations should be categorised.
The Government keeps the guidance on senior officials' business expenses, hospitality received and meetings with external organisations and individuals under review. However, there are no current plans to amend the guidance to include details on how social media organisations should be categorised.
What estimate his Department has made of the current service cost of civil service pensions in the (a) 2023-24, (b) 2024-25 and (c) 2025-26 financial year.
The current service cost for 2023-24 was £6,274,256,000 and is included in the published annual report and accounts found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/civil-superannuation-annual-account-2023-to-2024The current service cost for 2024-25 is not yet finalised and will be disclosed in the annual report and account due to be published by December 2025.The current service cost for 2025-26 will not be available until the end of the financial year and will follow the same publication process as 2024-25.
With reference to the press release entitled UK Resilience Academy to help secure Britain’s future with generational upgrade in emergency training, published on 28 April 2025, on what statutory basis the academy will operate; and what form of arm’s length body it will be.
The UK Resilience Academy (UKRA) is part of the Cabinet Office National Security Secretariat. It is not an Arms Length Body.