Written questions by Holden.

Whether the Office for Value for Money has made an assessment of the use of non-scheduled flights for foreign travel.

The Office for Value for Money has an immediate focus on supporting value for money decisions surrounding the spending review, including developing efficiency targets and plans, scrutinising investment proposals and conducting VfM studies. It will also recommend system reforms. Non-scheduled flights for foreign travel do not currently fall within the remit of the OVfM.

Pursuant to the Answer of 31 October 2024 to Question 11277on Treasury: USA, whether the flights for that journey were carbon offset; and at what cost.

Carbon emissions, including for flight travel, will be published later in the year in the Sustainability Report section of HM Treasury 2024-25 Annual Report and Accounts. This will be published at the following link. HMT annual report and accounts - GOV.UK

What assessment she has made of the potential impact of unregulated online pornography on violence against women and girls.

The Government published the final report of the Independent Pornography Review on 27 February 2025 and issued an initial statement in response addressing the important issues it raised. . The findings of the Review continue to be assessed by the Government, including as part of our work to halve Violence Against Women and Girls in a decade, and a further update will be provided in due course.Already, from 17 March 2025 services in scope of the Online Safety Act must take action to tackle illegal pornographic content. By July 2025, all services that allow pornography will also need to have highly effective age-checks in place to protect children from accessing it.

What estimate he has made of the cost of office solutions across central government; and what framework agreements exist for office stationery and paper.

Value for money in public procurement is essential for the efficient use of government resources​. The Cabinet Office does not hold a central estimate of office solution costs. However, public sector organisations can benefit from procuring office supplies through the Crown Commercial Service's RM6299 Office Solutions agreement. This framework covers various products, including stationery and paper, and streamlines procurement processes ensuring access to competitive pricing.

Innovation and Technology, what his planned timeline is for responding to the Sullivan Review.

The government has now published the independent review of data, statistics and research on sex and gender commissioned by the previous government.Given the wide breadth of recommendations, the government has ensured that the review has been shared with all the relevant departments and policy teams, who will consider the findings in light of their ongoing policy work.

What guidance (a) her Department and (b) HM Revenue and Customs has produced on income tax liability where employees claim expenses for personal gifts (i) with and (ii) without the employer’s knowledge of that gift.

The normal rules for employment-related benefits apply to employment-related gifts, as set out in HMRC’s guidance at www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim20020 There is an exemption for small gifts received by employees costing a total of £250 or less per year to provide, HMRC guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim21715 No tax relief is available for the purchase of personal gifts by employees under the normal rules for employment expenses, HMRC guidance can be found at https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim31630

Whether Mitie is eligible for additional funding through Government contracts for the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions.

Allocation of employers’ National Insurance contributions support funding is administrated in line with the method used under the Health and Social Care levy.This funding has been allocated to departments, with the Barnett formula applying in the usual way. It is down to individual departments on how to use that support funding in mitigating their increased employers’ National Insurance contributions costs.The Government plans to publish individual departments’ allocations as part of Mains estimates.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 31991 on Public Expenditure, what definition her Department uses of (a) a saving and (b) efficiency for the purpose of the 5% target; and whether cancelling programme spend is classified as a saving.

The Government uses the Government Efficiency Framework to distinguish between efficiencies and savings.The cancellation of a programme would classify as a saving.

Representing the House of Commons Commission, how many copies of The Morning Star are purchased by the House of Commons each day.

The House of Commons purchases five copies of the Morning Star each day. These are made available in different locations around the Estate.

Media and Sport, what artworks owned by (a) the Government Art Collection and (b) her Department have been removed from public display from her Department's offices since 5 July 2024.

The Government Art Collection is a working collection, used across government buildings in the UK and the global estate, which means that artworks may change their display location from time to time in response to new display steers and requests.

Whether (a) Ministers and (b) special advisers from her Department (i) met and (ii) took hospitality from senior executives from TikTok at the Labour Party Conference in 2024.

Both Ministers and special advisers are required to regularly publish information on the meetings that they have taken and the hospitality that they have received. These publications can be found on gov.uk.

Whether his Department has issued guidance on the use of Departmental premises for speeches by Ministers.

Any use of departmental premises by Ministers for speeches should be an appropriate use of government resources.

How many new (a) executive agencies, (b) non-departmental public bodies, (c) public corporations and (d) publicly-owned companies (i) have been established since 4 July 2024 and (ii) are due to be established.

As said in my previous answer of 8 January 2025, the Cabinet Office maintains records and oversight of formally established arm’s-length bodies, including executive agencies, non-ministerial departments and non-departmental public bodies. No ALBs have been formally established since 4 July 2024. Records for public corporations and publicly-owned companies are held at departmental level.

Whether she plans to bring forward legislative proposals to permit outdoor religious weddings.

The Law Commission’s 2022 report on weddings raises a number of issues around weddings law, including giving greater choice in how and where individuals can get married.Given marriage will always be one of our most important institutions, it is right that we take the time to carefully consider this report before we set out our position on weddings reform in the coming months.

What the budget will be of the Fair Work Agency; and what the budget is of the (a) Gangmaster and Labour Abuse Authority, (b) Employment Agency Standards Inspectorate and (c) Director of Labour Market Enforcement.

Establishing the Fair Work Agency will create a strong, recognisable single brand so individuals know where to go for help and lead to a more effective use of resources.We are working closely with partners to ensure that the Fair Work Agency will support employers, workers, and unions to get Britain moving forward.We are committed to ensuring that the Fair Work Agency is established on a sound finacial footing and operates effectively in fulfilling its mandate. Detailed annual budgets for the proposed Fair Work Agency are currently under development and will be communicated in due course.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 31991 on Public Expenditure, what the proportional target for savings and efficiencies is the 2024-25 financial year is; what the baseline year is for the five per cent target; and whether the five per cent target is before the previous two per cent reduction.

This Government launched a Spending Review last year which is taking place in two phases. Phase 1 of that review concluded last October with departments expected to identify savings and efficiencies of 2% for 2025-26. Phase 2 of the review will conclude this June. As part of this the Chancellor of the Exchequer has set all departments targets of identifying at least 5% savings and efficiencies by 2028-29, using 2025-26 budgets as the baseline.

What her Department's budget is for translation into foreign languages in the (a)2024-25 and (b) 2025-26 financial year.

The budget for translation services in the 2024-25 financial year was £2,911,000.While budgets are not set at the level of individual contracts, the figure represents the planned spend by HM Prison and Probation Service under its translation and transcription contract with an external provider.We are unable to provide an equivalent figure for 2025-26 as budgets have not yet been set at that level of detail.

Pursuant to the Answer of 3 March 2025 to Question 32970 on Government Departments: Consultants, how the baseline for the communication and marketing spending reductions were calculated; and what the baseline aggregate figure is.

The baseline for communication and marketing spending reductions was calculated using the planned spend figures submitted by departments to the Cabinet Office as part of the advertising, marketing and communications spending control process. As a result, Autumn Budget 2024 confirmed an £85 million saving from reducing unnecessary communications spend in 2024-25 and up to £96m in 2025-26 – exceeding the £50 million target set out in the Chancellor's July 2024 Inheritance speech.

Whether the previous Cabinet Secretary has received approvals from the Advisory Commission on Business Appointments.

In accordance with the Business Appointment Rules, former Cabinet Secretaries are obliged to submit applications to the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments for new appointments or employment that they wish to accept during the two year period following their final day of service.The timing of the publication of advice is for ACOBA, who are operationally independent of the Cabinet Office.

Pursuant to the Answer of 6 January 2025 to Question 20698 on Foreign Investment in UK: National Security, if his Department will modify the National Security and Investment Act 2021 annual reporting to include the (a) number and (b) nature of transactions that relate to links to a company owned in (i) part and (ii) whole by a foreign state.

Transparency is a crucial part of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act, whilst also balancing commercial and national security considerations. By publishing information on the origin of acquirer associated with acquisitions reviewed under the National Security and Investment Act 2021, the Cabinet Office goes beyond its obligations under Section 61 of the Act, providing greater transparency on the nature of acquisitions scrutinised. The reports do not specifically include the number or proportion of transactions that relate to links to a company owned in (a) part or (b) whole by a foreign state, however, they include the number of accepted notifications, call-in notices issued, final notifications issued, withdrawals from a called in acquisition and final orders issued by origin of investment. Information related to publication of final orders is available on GOV.UK and includes the named Parties subject to the final order.